A step closer to holistic healthcare

In an extension of the healthcare system to better cater to patients, general practitioners (GPs) will get training from 2023 to improve care for patients’ social, mental and physical well-being outside the hospital setting. SingHealth Community Hospitals is discussing with professional bodies – the College of Family Physicians Singapore and the Academy of Medicine, Singapore – the introduction of this feature into their overall programmes. The push for a social and physical environment that supports health is also known as social prescription.

Associate Professor Lee Kheng Hock of SingHealth Community Hospitals discussed the advantages of social prescription in an article published in 2021. He noted research that showed 80 per cent of healthcare outcomes are influenced by social determinants of health. Examples would include an individual’s housing environment, literacy, food security, social support and access to health and social care. Since these determinants were once viewed as lying outside the ambit of healthcare, they were subject to high-level public health and government policy interventions.