10 breakthrough moments in LCPC's history

01 National Strategy for Palliative Care

LCPC's first major undertaking, which was a collaborative effort with luminaries in the palliative care community in Singapore, has also been one of our most impactful. In 2010, we were commissioned by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to produce Singapore's first National Strategy for Palliative Care (NSPC). The NSPC comprised three broad recommendations in the areas of 1) service development, 2) training and research, and 3) public education and awareness. Within these three broad areas were more specific propositions such as the need to dispel misconceptions and promote acceptance of palliative care amongst the general public, as well as incorporate palliative care training into relevant undergraduate and diploma courses. All three recommendations were emphatically accepted by MOH at the beginning of 2012, and have guided the implementation of palliative care initiatives and our research and educational mission ever since.

02 First research grant awarded

In January 2011, LCPC was awarded its first external research grant, namely a New Investigator grant awarded by the National Medical Research Council to Assistant Professor Chetna Malhotra. This grant was the first of many, and spearheaded the Centre's work in understanding what Singaporeans want at the end of life.

03 Incubator fund opened to encourage collaboration

In 2013, LCPC set up a Research Incubator to help palliative care researchers in Singapore overcome the competing priorities on their time and limited resources at their disposal. The incubator provides researchers with the funding, manpower and subject matter expertise necessary to implement successful projects. Since its inception, 14 projects have been funded and nearly $1 million has been disbursed. 

04 First foray into multi-country collaborative research

In 2016, LCPC initiated a regional research collaboration with clinicians in 8 countries. This is the first study to provide a cross-country comparison on palliative care services for cancer patients in various middle- and low-income countries in Asia.

The core research domains for this ongoing study focus on assessing quality of care, awareness and preferences for prognostic information and quality of life among advanced cancer patients.

05 Embarked on first cohort study of patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers in Singapore

The Costs and Medical Care of Patients with Advanced Serious Illness in singapore (COMPASS) project, funded by the Singapore Millennium Foundation, assesses patient and caregiver preferences for end-of-life care, perceived quality of communication with physicians and the extent to which pain and other symptoms are adequately managed in patients. Each of these is a priority area identified in Singapore's National Strategy for Palliative Care. For this project, implemented in collaboration with the National Cancer Centre and National University Hospital, Singapore, 600 patients and a proportion of their caregivers have been followed since 2016. Several manuscripts have been published using this data, and the results have been presented to MOH and the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) in efforts to improve identified gaps in treatment.

06 First commentary published in a local newspaper

As part of its efforts to educate the Singaporean public about palliative care issues LCPC has been regularly contributing commentaries on this subject to the local media. The first of these, written by Professor Eric Finkelstein, was published in The Straits Times in March 2016. Titled "How much would you pay to extend your life by a year?", the commentary explores the concept of present bias and how it influences patients' treatment choices for life-limiting illnesses.

07 SG Pall eBook

Rolled out in 2017, the SG Pall eBook is a one-stop online reference for basic palliative care information and knowledge. Healthcare professionals anywhere now have the option of digesting key facts and figures in bite-sized chunks, from the convenience of any Internet-enabled device. It even features a handy opioid conversion tool to facilitate the prescription of optimal doses 

08 Neonatal Guidance

The neonatal guide "Guidance on Supportive and Comfort Care in Vulnerable Babies" was released in 2018 (the first of its kind in Singapore) to educate clinicians on the physical, emotional and social needs of vulnerable babies. This helped to plug an existing gap in the knowledge base of Singaporean healthcare professionals who were as yet unfamiliar with the complex needs of vulnerable babies. The guide was crafted over a 12-month period with input from various neonatological authorities in Singapore. 

09 First decision aid developed for elderly ESKD patients

The Centre, together with clinicians from SingHealth, developed new counselling materials to be used as patient decision aids (consisting of a booklet and video with patient testimonials) for elderly patients with End Stage Kidney Disease and their family caregivers. These decision aids convey age-appropriate information about both dialysis and kidney supportive care (i.e. conservative management) in an objective manner. This will help patients make informed treatment choices based on their preferences and values. The decision aids will be tested to help the centre understand their acceptability and feasibility in the Singapore setting.  

10 1st (AM•EI) Golden Apple Award won by LCPC

In August 2019, LCPC's Palliative Care Course for Social Workers (Basic) was awarded a Programme Excellence Award at the Academic Medicine Education Institute (AM•EI) Golden Apple Awards 2019. The annual AM•EI Golden Apple Awards recognise inter-professional educators in SingHealth and Duke-NUS who have transformed learning and advanced the boundaries of educational excellence for better patient care. Our course was lauded for "applying best practices in education philosophies and following a scholarly approach".