Implementation and outcomes of a telehealth centre in a tertiary hospital (THINK)
Completed
Age Well SG strand: Strengthen support for seniors with care needs in the community
Principal Investigator: Dr Tew Chee Wee (Visiting Consultant, GERI and Senior Consultant, Geriatric Medicine, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH))
Collaborating Organisation(s): KTPH, Singapore Clinical Research Institute, Knowledge Translation Program, St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto
Gap: Against the backdrop of a rapidly ageing population, hospitals are seeing more elderly patients with more complex conditions, which contributes to the hospital capacity crunch.
Solution: Telehealth support, where nurses and telecare officers support patients’ transition back home, can potentially reduce readmission rates and free up capacity for more urgent cases. GERI is evaluated the implementation of the telehealth support centre at KTPH to identify the barriers and facilitators of implementation, and its effectiveness in terms of patient outcomes, resource utilisation and cost benefit.
Impact: Study findings support efforts to optimise, scale and sustain telehealth use as an enabler of care provision across care settings, while informing policymakers on health service planning and policy formulation in establishing telehealth services. Findings have been presented at the Singapore Health and Biomedical Congress 2025, the Evidence and Implementation Summit 2025 and the Singapore Conference on Ageing and Health 2026, with plans for further dissemination through upcoming journal publications and conferences.
Duration: Apr 2023 to Sep 2025