Assoc Prof Lim Wee Shiong

Senior Consultant, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital Director, Institute of Geriatrics and Active Aging, Tan Tock Seng Hospital

A/Prof Lim Wee Shiong is the Director at IGA, and Senior Consultant at the Department of Geriatric Medicine, TTSH. He is Associate Professor (Clinical Practice) at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, NTU; Adjunct Associate Professor at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS; Fellow of the American Geriatrics Society; and Associate Fellow of the Association for Medical Education in Europe. A/Prof Lim’s comprehensive track record of scholarly work as a “Geriatrician-Educator-Researcher” included over 200 peer-reviewed publications; Associate Editor of Journal of Frailty and Aging; and research and teaching awards in Geriatric Medicine and Health Professions Education. He is actively involved in international, regional and national workgroups in sarcopenia and frailty, including the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS), Asian Working Group for Cachexia (AWGC), and Global Leadership Initiative in Sarcopenia (GLIS). He is also the principal investigator of the seminal GERI-LABS and GERI-LABS2 longitudinal cohort studies in frailty and sarcopenia.

Moving from Frailty-readiness to Frailty-resilience: Can We Get There?

Ageing has been described as the biggest social transformation in Singapore for this generation. In Singapore, the journey to deliver quality healthcare amidst challenges posed by increasing prevalence of frailty with ageing populations is marked by three key epochal transitions: 1) Frailty-reality healthcare system; 2) Frailty-ready healthcare system; and 3) Frailty-resilient health system. The multifaceted physical, cognitive, functional and psychosocial needs of frail older persons have rendered the conventional modus operandi of reactive, fragmented, facility-centric, doctor-based, and illness-centered care delivery as clearly unsustainable. In response, Singapore underwent a transformational journey underpinned by the Ministry of Health (MOH)’s three beyonds: beyond healthcare to health, beyond hospital to community, and beyond quality to value. The aim was to forge a frailty-ready healthcare system across the frailty spectrum, ranging from the well healthy (“living well”), well unhealthy (“living with illness”), unwell unhealthy (“living with frailty”), and end-of-life (“dying well”). Recent developments include the 2023 Action Plan for Successful Aging Plan anchored on the 3Cs of care, contribution and connectedness; Healthier SG initiative involving primary care doctors and community care partners as key partners in the implementation efforts for healthy ageing; and the multi-ministry Age Well SG, a national preventative programme to help seniors age actively, stay socially connected, and be cared for within their own communities. As Singapore prepares for a super-aged society, it is incumbent upon policy makers, healthcare practitioners, community partners, academics and the lay public to unite their efforts to forge a frailty-resilient health system that enables older persons “to be and to do what they value for as long as possible.”