Seniors who experience symptoms of breathlessness due to chronic lung and heart conditions will soon benefit from a new network of care services outside of a hospital or clinical setting, available at active ageing centres, senior day care centres and other community care facilities.
These care services will fall under the umbrella of the new “Breathlessness Ecosystem”, an initiative funded by the Lien Foundation and Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
The organisations have committed $5.8 million to the ecosystem over the next five years, working hand in hand with partners like Ren Ci Hospital, St Luke’s Eldercare, and Asian Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA).
The first of these care services in the Breathlessness Ecosystem is Air Master, a holistic rehabilitation service provided by community care partners encompassing 10 weeks of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation sessions to build physical strength and endurance, comprehensive nurse-led assessments to uncover latent symptoms, education programmes and a slew of peer support activities to boot.
The Air Master service is available to all Singaporeans and Permanent Residents aged 21 and above. It is fully subsidised for all patients. Patients are also provided transport vouchers to improve access.
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The Breathlessness Ecosystem, in line with the national Healthier SG movement, seeks to reduce healthcare costs by proactively assisting patients in managing their health within the community, starting with breathlessness — a symptom experienced by 60 to 90% of people with heart and chronic lung diseases.
According to a local study published in 2021, patients with heart failure and lung failure encountered the highest healthcare expenditure in Singapore during the last year of life.
These patients spent on average $49,900 and $42,900 respectively, significantly higher than someone with cancer ($31,200).
Tan Tock Seng Hospital plans to work with other healthcare providers like Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Woodlands Health, seven polyclinics, and a growing primary care network of general practitioners (GPs) to screen, identify and refer suitable patients early to services in the ecosystem.
It also plans to expand the Breathlessness Ecosystem with a tiered approach matching patients to services based on the severity of their condition and symptoms.
