Forum: Better integration needed between TCM practitioners and family doctors

Singapore is taking encouraging steps towards closer collaboration between traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners and family doctors. But successful integration requires more than professional goodwill. It requires clarity about what happens when patients move between providers.

When an older patient seeking TCM treatment for knee pain is unsteady and falling, care must go beyond local pain relief to include fall-risk assessments or medical referrals. The challenge is establishing a practical pathway to ensure those recommendations lead to effective action.

Would the patient get a written referral? Would the family doctor know why the concern was raised? Would the TCM practitioner subsequently learn whether the patient received appropriate follow-up?

Without such arrangements, integrated care risks becoming little more than parallel consultations. The same challenge works in reverse where a family doctor may know that the patient also seeks TCM treatment. Clear communication about the patient’s diagnoses, relevant precautions and follow-up plans could make that additional care safer and more coordinated.

Pilot programmes could begin with simple referral templates, agreed criteria for escalation, secure information-sharing arrangements and clear responsibilities for follow-up. Importantly, patients should remain informed and in control of what information is shared. Smaller private clinics must also be able to take part without disproportionate administrative costs.

Patients do not experience healthcare as separate professional territories. They experience one health problem and seek treatment, often across several providers. Meaningful integrated care should make those transitions safer and easier.

Chua Beng Chye