MOH to provide more support for caregivers

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health will focus more on home-based care development this year, providing more support to the care of seniors at home and making respite services for caregivers more accessible.

Speaking in Parliament during the Ministry of Health’s Committee of Supply debate today (12 Mar), Senior Minister of State for Health Amy Khor announced more subsidies to be made available for home-based rehabilitation and home environment assessment starting next month.

Dr Khor pointed out that some seniors are unable to visit rehabilitation centres for their rehab needs, which is where home-based rehabilitation can come in to allow therapists to visit the seniors at home and carry out active rehabilitation.

This will help bring rehabilitation in a more timely manner to seniors at home, enabling them to regain as much of their functional ability as possible and remain independent, she said.

Likewise, home environment assessment allows therapists to visit the homes of seniors who are receiving home-based care services to identify home hazards and recommend home modifications to facilitate independent living.

A new model of funding will also be implemented by the ministry sometime between July and Semptember this year, to encourage providers to take a “person-centric view” when providing home-based care, said Dr Khor.

The ministry is looking at funding providers on a per-client basis — instead of the current system of a per-visit basis — providing a fixed amount of funding per month for each senior under their care, based on their individual care needs, she said.

Likewise, to provide relief for caregivers, the ministry will partner some eldercare centres to pilot weekend respite services in the second half of this year, where caregivers can drop off their seniors at these centres during weekends for a few hours if they need a respite or run errands, said Dr Khor.

On top of that, between July and September this year, a one-stop call centre for caregivers will be set up. Caregivers will be able to access services such as referral to care services, application for grants, among other things through this one number.

Separately, to complement the home care services, Dr Khor announced that the ministry will also add eight new Senior Care Centres this year, providing 400 more places. To date, there are eight of such centres where seniors can receive day care, dementia day care, rehabilitation and nursing services.

Earlier, Member of Parliament for Potong Pasir Sitoh Yih Pin said in Parliament that the standards of nursing homes here are not that of first world nations. He then suggested that nursing homes can be set up under the ministry to develop better standards and regulatory frameworks.