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Alexandra Hospital (AH) is a district general hospital located in Queenstown, Singapore that provides acute and community care under the National University Health System.

The hospital's colonial-style buildings were constructed in the late 1930s on 110,000 square metres (1,200,000 sq ft) of land. Under British rule, it was known as the British Military Hospital and was the site of a massacre in February 1942 by the Japanese as they took over Singapore in World War II. After the liberation of Singapore, the hospital was returned to its British administration, before being handed over to the Singapore government on 11 September 1971. Since then, it has gone through four changes of administration, most recently on 1 June 2018, to a team of long-term stewards under the National University Health System.

History

British Military Hospital

Established in 1938 as the British Military Hospital, the facility served as the principal military hospital of the British Far East Command. During the Fall of Singapore in February 1942, it was the scene of a massacre by Japanese soldiers of wounded British servicemembers and medical staff. After World War II, Alexandra Hospital remained as one of the most modern hospitals in Singapore up to the 1970s.

In its heyday, Alexandra Hospital was an institution that adopted cutting-edge medical technology and in 1975 became the first hospital in Southeast Asia to successfully perform limb re-attachment to a patient. Alexandra Hospital also employed several renowned medical experts, including:

• Sir Roy Calne, internationally renowned transplant surgeon
• Major A.P. Dignan, later Major General, Director of Army Surgery
• Sir David Weatherall, Regius professor of medicine and honorary director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford

Post-independence

Following the gradual downsizing and withdrawal of the British military presence in Singapore, the hospital was handed over to the government of Singapore on 11 September 1971 and renamed Alexandra Road General Hospital. On 1 October 2000, the hospital became a member of the National Healthcare Group and underwent a major upgrade of its facilities.

Restructuring and changes in management

In 2001, plans were made to move to a new hospital in Jurong by 2006. However, in 2004, the plans were scrapped in favour of a move to a new 500-bed hospital in Yishun to be called Northern General Hospital, by 28 March 2009. (This hospital in Yishun is not to be confused with another new hospital planned for the nearby Woodlands, announced in March 2006 on the grounds that Northern General would not be able to serve enough people living in the north.)

On 16 May 2007, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, while attending the HIMSS AsiaPac 2007 conference, announced that the name of the new general hospital in Yishun was to be Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH). The family of late Mr Khoo Teck Puat had donated S$125 million for hospital construction and funding. The new hospital was to be different from other hospitals as it promises to put patients first and aims to minimise bureaucracy and paperwork. It was initially planned for Alexandra Hospital to be closed after KTPH was opened, but after August 2010, the hospital was kept in operation and transferred to Jurong Health after August 2010.

On 8 September 2012, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong announced that the hospital will remain in operation at least until 2018, but the team slated to run the Sengkang General and Community Hospitals will take over the facilities after the opening of Ng Teng Fong General Hospital in 2014–2015. A decision on the future of the hospital will be made nearer to 2018, said the Health Minister. Previously, Sengkang Health took over from JurongHealth ceased operations at Alexandra Hospital to prepare for the opening of Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

On 26 January 2015, with the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital opening in July 2015, Alexandra Hospital was to be closed for maintenance and renovation. Specialist Outpatient Clinics Services continued to operate at AH until its move to NTFGH. Alexandra Hospital was to be taken over by Sengkang Health and reopened in phases by the third quarter of 2015. JurongHealth ceased operations at Alexandra Hospital (AH) at 5.30 pm on 29 June 2015 to prepare for the opening of NTFGH the next day. This was to include the hospital's Specialist Outpatient Clinics and Emergency Department. Sengkang Health reopened the hospital in phases, with its Specialist Outpatient Clinics, operating theatres and other medical facilities becoming operational in 2016.

After Sengkang Health moved out of the premises, the National University Health System (NUHS) took over the hospital on 1 June 2018.

Since its takeover by the NUHS, the hospital provides care under a single continuum, from acute, sub-acute, to rehabilitative care. Through five key programmes (preventive care, urgent and acute care, long-term chronic care, elder care, and palliative care), care is provided to each patient by a team led by one principal doctor. This model of health and care is defined by elements abbreviated as OOOOOH (One patient, One bed, One care team, One principal doctor, One with the community, Healthcare redesign).

Future developments

Alexandra Hospital will be redeveloped into an integrated health campus by 2030, in view of the rising demand in health and medical services set to increase, as the population intensifies in the southwestern region of Singapore, and will be first public hospital redeveloped after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The future hospital is planned to be pandemic-ready, green and sustainable, with phygital (seamlessly-integrated physical and digital) care, new roles for nurses and caregivers, under a resource-efficient Integrated General Hospital (IGH) model: "One patient, One bed, One care team, One principal doctor, One with the community, Healthcare" (OOOOOH). It will also incorporate six peaks of excellence in areas such as Integrated Care, Geriatric Medicine, Supportive and Palliative Care Medicine, Rehabilitative Medicine, Psychological Medicine, Ambulatory Surgery. Psychiatric services will also be set up, with inpatient wards to cater for acute and sub-acute psychiatric care and rehabilitation, as well as services on medical psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, and psychogeriatrics.

In 2023, Alexandra established the Centre for Healthy Longevity (CHL), a longevity medicine center focused on maintaining individuals as close as possible to optimal performance across the lifespan by targeting biological aging as the greatest driver of diseases of aging. With a S$5 million gift from the Lien Foundation, the Center will conduct clinical trials and care for patients using nutrition, exercise, dietary supplements and repurposed drugs. Complementing the geroscience basic research at National University Health System led by Dr. Brian K. Kennedy, the Center's mission is to increase the Singapore population's healthspan by five years by slowing biological aging.

Alexandra Hospital will form part of a future Health District in Queenstown and with an increased clinical capacity, support the Healthier SG initiative. Details of this plan were further revealed when the hospital held a groundbreaking ceremony for its redevelopment on 15 May 2024, where it was announced that new inpatient and outpatient blocks would be built, and the hospital would open progressively from 2028 onwards.

Services

Urgent Care Centre

The Urgent Care Centre is a 24-hour clinic that provides immediate medical attention to walk-in patients with acute and urgent medical conditions, as well as those admitted to Alexandra Hospital via private ambulance. For patients requiring more than basic care, blood and radiological tests and further treatment are administered under the care of a single holistic care team.

Community Care Coordination Unit (C3U) @ AH

The Community Care Coordination Unit (C3U) @ AH is a multidisciplinary team that bring together healthcare teams and care managers to work with patients, families, and community partners for early clinical and social interventions.

Specialties

Gardens

A 20 hectare medicinal garden was opened at AH on 30 July 2005. The garden was based on a book by Singaporean botanist Wee Yeow Chin and took three months to plant the garden. The garden is part of providing a healing environment for patients and visitors.

Gardens surrounding the hospital are home to over 500 plant species and 100 butterfly species in the butterfly trail. Members of nature societies have used the hospital gardens as a study ground. The gardens were upgraded in 2000 under the direction of Rosalind Tan, senior executive at the hospital's operations department.

On 6 November 2019, a Therapeutic Horticulture Programme was started in the gardens to provide occupational therapy to patients.

A commemorative plaque in the gardens honours the hundreds of hospitalized soldiers and staff massacred by Japanese forces in 1942.

See also

• Lists of hospitals

References

1. "About Us: Our Heritage". Alexandra Hospital. Retrieved 2022-02-08.
2. "About Us: Our Heritage". Alexandra Hospital. Retrieved 2022-02-08.
3. "ADDENDA TO PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS AT THE OPENING OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE TENTH PARLIAMENT".
4. "Khoo Teck Puat (AH @ Yishun / Sembawang / Northern General), Woodlands and Jurong Hospital". www.geraldtan.com.
5. "Violations". www.ah.com.sg. Archived from the original on May 16, 2006.
6. Straits Times, 23 March 2004, 400-bed hospital for the north in Yishun Central
7. Straits Times, 27 March 2006, New general hospital to be built in Woodlands
8. Yahoo News Singapore, 17 May 2007, New hospital in Yishun named Khoo Teck Puat Hospital Archived May 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
9. Channel News Asia, 26 January 2015, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital to start operations by July this year Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
10. Channel News Asia, 26 January 2015, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital to open on Jun 30
11. MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation, 14 December 2018
12. Alexandra Hospital
13. TODAY, 5 March 2020
14. Ministry of Health, 12 August 2022
15. Ministry of Health, 9 March 2022
16. ^ "Prolonging healthspan by delaying ageing: NUHS opens Singapore's first Centre for Healthy Longevity to increase healthy lifespan of Singapore population by five more disease-free years" (PDF). National University Health System. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
17. CNA, 20 October 2022
18. The Straits Times, 11 Oct 2022
19. The Straits Times, 15 May 2024
20. ^ Perry, Margaret (30 July 2005). "Alexandra Hospital opens new garden of medicinal plants". Channel NewsAsia.
21. Perry, Margaret (16 October 2005). "Alexandra Hospital garden has plants that heal, thrill or kill". Channel NewsAsia.
22. Mulchand, Arti (15 June 2007). "No botanist but she creates green spaces in hospitals". The Straits Times.
23. "The gardens at Alexandra Hospital that helped two women regain their mental and physical strength". TODAY. Retrieved 2022-12-22.

External links

• Alexandra Hospital Official website

• Hospital buildings completed in 1938
• Hospitals in Singapore
• Hospitals established in 1938
• Queenstown, Singapore
• 20th-century architecture in Singapore