THE first piece of puzzle for an integrated healthcare hub in the north is now in place, said health minister Khaw Boon Wan at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital's Topping Out ceremony on Friday.

The ceremony marked the structural completion of the 3.4 ha 550-bed hospital in Yishun.

KTPH will open in stages next year, and will provide 'fast medicine' for fast-paced acute care.

A new 200-bed community hospital will be built next door by 2013 to provide 'slow medicine' for chronically-ill or aged patients.

Together with the two upcoming nursing in the vicinity, this will complete the picture of providing holistic healthcare for residents living in the north, said Mr Khaw.

The new Villa Francis Nursing Home across the road from KTPH and the Singapore Christian Home at Sembawang Town will open before 2012.

The health institutions will work with GPs, the Yishun Polyclinic, Home Nursing Foundation and other polyclinics and nursing homes in the vicinity to provide a seamless spectrum of services.

This includes wellness programmes, chronic disease management, acute care, palliative care and end-of-life care.

KTPH is made up of a six-storey outpatient medical centre, an eight-storey garden tower for private wards and a 10-storey lake tower housing the subsidised wards.