• One-stop comprehensive, national specialty centre for complex cancer care offers advanced treatment
• 24-storey new NCCS building designed around patients’ needs is 5 times larger than its old premises, with increased clinic capacity, enhanced facilities and dedicated space for groundbreaking clinical and translational research

Singapore, 18 May 2023 – Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong officially opened the new National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) building today. As the national specialty centre for oncology in Singapore with the largest consolidation of cancer specialists, NCCS sees the majority of cancer cases in the public healthcare sector. NCCS previously occupied a six-storey building on Singapore General Hospital (SGH) Campus for more than 20 years. With increasing cancer prevalence, the new NCCS building which is five times larger than its previous premises, has enhanced facilities dedicated to cancer care, rehabilitation, research and education (see Annex).

Professor William Hwang, Chief Executive Officer, NCCS, said, “The new NCCS building is geared to meet future healthcare needs and provide affordable, accessible care to all Singaporeans. Our new Centre is built around patients’ needs, with larger, improved facilities and innovative care programmes run by dedicated healthcare teams. The ultimate goal is to provide holistic support every step of the cancer journey, so that NCCS serves as a beacon of hope for all our patients.”

The new NCCS building is part of phase 1 development of the SGH Campus Masterplan. Operations in the new NCCS building started progressively from December 2022, with all services fully operational since March 2023.

Patient-centred design for improved cancer care delivery

A one-stop national specialty centre for complex cancer care, NCCS provides the full suite of care from prevention, diagnosis, treatment, to survivorship and palliative care. Each specialist outpatient clinic is designed with a patient-centric approach, where each cancer type has clinical, research and training facilities in close proximity to facilitate collaboration and improve convenience for patients. For example, breast cancer patients can see the doctor, get a mammogram, receive financial counselling and get their medications reviewed on the same floor.

The new 24-storey NCCS is located close to public transport nodes with direct link bridge access to Outram Park MRT, offering improved accessibility and convenience to patients and caregivers. The new Centre has larger space for outpatient care services with 64 consultation rooms, and seven treatment suites with 108 chemotherapy recliner chairs and beds in the Ambulatory Treatment Unit (ATU), almost double the number in the old premises. To offer integrated care, the new NCCS also has three day-surgery operating theatres and two endoscopy suites.

Healthcare innovations and technology are harnessed to improve care delivery in the new Centre. At the ATU, robots deliver prepared chemotherapy drugs from the Oncology Pharmacy to treatment suites, freeing up nurses to spend more time attending to patients as they receive chemotherapy treatment. The national compounding hub features robotic arms to expedite the safe and efficient preparation of intravenous chemotherapy drugs.

Following regulatory approval, patients at the new NCCS will have access to advanced cancer treatments such as proton therapy. The Goh Cheng Liang Proton Therapy Centre, which is supported by a S$50 million gift from the Goh Foundation, will offer proton therapy, an advanced type of radiation therapy.

Professor Lim Soon Thye, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Clinical), NCCS, said, “As the national specialty centre for cancer, our healthcare team treats the full breadth of cancers and cancer-related disorders and we continually seek to innovate to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The co-integration and co-location of research and clinical services in the new NCCS will further boost collaborations and enable us to drive patient-informed scientific inquiry that leads to better patient outcomes.”

In line with the nation’s Healthier SG strategy, NCCS will continue to work closely with primary care and community partners such as the Singapore Cancer Society to provide cancer patients with accessible care and rehabilitation in the community, to boost survivorship and improve long term quality of life.

Advancing cancer care through research and education

As part of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre, NCCS invests in research and education to further cancer care. With almost 10,000 square metres of research space, the new NCCS houses advanced translational research facilities, where scientists and clinician-scientists can collaborate, innovate and drive high impact research that translates to tangible improvements in health outcomes.

The Cancer Discovery Hub is a one-stop, multi-omics molecular diagnostic core with specialised services and novel technologies for high throughput oncology research. These include single-cell technology platforms and systems that allow complex single-cell, gene and protein profiling, enabling scientists to uncover the mechanics and development of cancer. A dedicated clinical trials facility with chemotherapy chairs and beds for early phase trials offers patients access to new cancer therapies. The building also houses a tissue bank, a satellite of the SingHealth Tissue Repository, that enables the study and better understanding of the evolution and development of cancer in Asian populations.

Research space is also available for industry partners and external collaborators involved in creating a pipeline for cancer therapeutics based on patients’ needs, such as the Advanced Cell Therapy and Research Institute, Singapore (ACTRIS), a programme of the Consortium for Clinical Research and Innovation, Singapore (CRIS), that facilitates the discovery, process development and manufacturing of cellular-based therapeutics.

With new education and training facilities and diverse oncology expertise, NCCS will continue to serve as a training ground to equip local and overseas professionals with the latest oncology care knowledge and skills, supporting the Centre’s position as a thought leader in cancer care.

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ANNEX

NCCS Building Stack

New NCCS by Numbers

• 24-storey one-stop integrated centre for complex cancer care
• 92,000 sqm of floor space
• 5X larger than old premise
• <5 minutes’ walk to public transport nodes with direct link bridge to Outram Park MRT
• >500 parking lots

Patient Care

• 64 consultation rooms, almost 2X more than before (36 rooms in old premises)
• 108 chemotherapy recliner chairs and beds for chemotherapy treatment, almost 2X more than before (55 chairs in old premises)
• 3 day-surgery operating theatres and 2 endoscopy suites, 3X more space for diagnostic and surgical procedures
• 10 radiation therapy facilities; about 1.5X more treatment capacity
• 4 proton therapy treatment gantries at the Goh Cheng Liang Proton Therapy Centre
• 1 national compounding hub for cytotoxic drugs
• >200 oncologists and surgeons
• >210 nurses
• >260 allied health professionals (radiation therapists, radiographers, dosimetrists, pharmacists, medical social workers, psychologists etc.)

Research & Innovation

• Almost 10,000 sqm of research space, 2.5X larger than before
• 220 ongoing clinical trials
• 14 nationally-funded clinician scientists and 308 research staff

For media enquiries, please contact:

Lo Sok Wan
Corporate Communications
National Cancer Centre Singapore
Email: [email protected]

Dharshini Subbiah
Corporate Communications
National Cancer Centre Singapore
Email: [email protected]

About the National Cancer Centre Singapore

The National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) is a leading national and regional tertiary cancer centre with specialists who are experts in treating cancer. NCCS attends to the majority of cancer cases in Singapore’s public healthcare sector. To meet growing healthcare needs, the new NCCS building has increased capacity and expanded facilities dedicated to cancer care, rehabilitation, research and education. NCCS aims to provide our patients with the best outcomes with advanced and innovative treatment such as proton therapy following regulatory approval, which will be offered at the new Goh Cheng Liang Proton Therapy Centre.

In addition to offering holistic and multidisciplinary oncology care, our clinicians and scientists collaborate with local and international partners to conduct robust, cutting-edge clinical and translational research. We share our depth of experience and expertise by training local and overseas medical professionals, to support NCCS’ vision to be a global leading cancer centre.

For more information, please visit: www.nccs.com.sg