New physio service to beat long wait

By Poon Chian Hui, The Straits Times, 7 Sep 2012

PEOPLE living on the east side of Singapore who need physiotherapy at affordable rates will now be able to get it speedily through a new service located on their doorstep.

The government-run Community Health Centre in Tampines Street 83 is working with the non-profit Society for the Physically Disabled (SPD), which runs a rehabilitation centre next door, to offer a new physiotherapy service.

General practitioners in the area can start referring patients for treatment at the centre for ailments such as back pain and sprains.

The initiative was spurred by feedback from about 100 GPs, who ranked physiotherapy among the top services needed by their patients. Patients from about 220 GP clinics within 5km of the health centre are expected to benefit from the service.

GPs usually refer these patients to a private physiotherapist or a specialist outpatient clinic at a public hospital. But for patients at specialist outpatient clinics to receive subsidised treatment, they must be referred by a polyclinic, which is where some GPs first send them.

This new service removes the need to take this long route, cutting down on months of waiting for appointments at public hospitals or being charged more at private physiotherapy centres, said Ms Yap Mei Foon, deputy director of integrated care operations at Eastern Health Alliance, a public health-care group which runs the centre.

Six patients, from about 30 to 60 years old, have used the service since it started in July. They are mostly office workers with muscle spasms and sprains.

The centre will provide their GPs with reports. This prevents GPs from losing track of their patients' progress, which can happen when they are referred to a hospital or private centre. "This is an avenue for the GPs to be able to continue managing their patients," said Ms Yap.

Each session, arranged through the centre, costs between $40 and $70 - comparable to public hospital rates. Private operators charge $90 to $150 a session.

The Tampines Community Health Centre was set up in 2010 to complement the care by GPs in the heartland. There are plans for a second centre, also in the east.

Among those who took up the service is software engineer Neeladri Raju Jampana, 29, who sprained his right thumb two months ago after falling at home. Despite medication, his problem persisted for a month.

The Tampines resident was referred to the new service two weeks ago by a GP.

"The pain is getting better, and they also taught me some exercises that I can do during the rest of the day," he said.