Message from the Chairman

Dover Park Hospice has evolved and progressed over the years and continued to see great progress in many areas in the past year. We are immensely proud of the pilot study we have conducted in partnership with Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) - the Integrated Palliative Care Programme (IPCP) - which concluded this year. The IPCP pilot has demonstrated what is truly possible when a mature, fully integrated hospice system partners closely with an acute hospital. Dover Park Hospice stands out not only in terms of breadth of services but in the depth of clinical expertise and the ability to manage complex needs across care settings. The pilot has shown clinical outcomes that benefit patients and the service providers.

The good outcome of the IPCP pilot programme is largely because of the close cooperation and clinical integration with TTSH for many years. Dover Park Hospice will continue to work closely with TTSH and the National Healthcare Group (NHG Health) to enhance palliative care in the coming years. One of the partnerships with the National Healthcare Group and Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine is the Palliative Care Centre for Excellence in Research and Education (PalC) established in 2017. Last year, PalC launched the Holistic Palliative CarE (HoPE) Programme, the first interdisciplinary, competency-based postgraduate curriculum for palliative care in Singapore and the greater Southeast Asia region. Designed for busy working healthcare professionals, it offers rigorous, flexible and modular learning that equips practitioners to lead with both skill and compassion. We proudly welcomed our inaugural class of 30 learners for the Graduate Certificate in August 2024.

Our research momentum continues to grow. Our clinical and research teams contributed to peer-reviewed journals and presented at international conferences across Canada, Malaysia, Finland, U.S and Mongolia. For example, ongoing research on breathlessness—R.I.S.E. (Restitutive. Integrative. Supportive. Empowering) Programme reflects our unwavering commitment to evidence-based, holistic care.

As we continue to expand our home care services, we face several challenges. The most significant challenge is the ability to hire experienced nurses. Our management has introduced several initiatives to provide a better work life balance, to improve retention rate and to attract new joiners. The other challenge that impacts us overall is funding. We have been fortunate and blessed to have donors who have continued to support us, and we have been able to deliver a surplus in the last financial year. It takes many hands and a lot of hard work to raise funds. We continue to work on new ways to appeal to our supporters for donations.

We could not have come this far without the strong support from our volunteers, the Governing Council members and the many members of the various sub-committees who have contributed hundreds of pro-bono hours, working tirelessly and mostly behind the scenes, to serve our patients, providing guidance and stewardship. We must also not forget our staff and the management, ably led by our CEO, Dr Liew Li Lian and Medical Director Dr Mervyn Koh. To all of them, I would like to record the Governing Council’s sincere thanks and gratitude. Dr Mervyn Koh, who stepped down as our Medical Director on 30 June 2025, will be particularly missed as he had developed the clinical expertise and excellence that improved Dover Park Hospice’s reputation and standing amongst the palliative care profession. He was succeeded by Dr Tricia Yung, whom I look forward to working with.

We are also bidding farewell to four valuable Council members who are stepping down from the Governing Council at the end of this term. They are Honorary Secretary Professor Ho Yew Kee, Fundraising Committee Co-chairman Dr Kwa Chong Teck, former Honorary Treasurer Ms Diane Chen, and Dr Seet Ju Ee. To them, we owe a great gratitude for all the selfless contributions and guidance in making Dover Park Hospice a better organisation.

Lastly, we are very grateful to our donors - seasoned philanthropists and new changemakers alike - for your contributions and continued trust in our work to honour the lives and stories of our patients, anchored by our belief to make palliative care accessible to everyone.