Debated in Parliament on 6 Jan 2020.
Ms Joan Pereira asked the Minister for Health how does the Ministry help a mentally distressed patient whose condition is mild but who has occasional bouts of outbursts that target neighbours.
MOH has worked with Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) to develop services to support persons with mental health conditions under the Community Mental Health Masterplan. For example, AIC acts as a "first touchpoint" for agencies, service providers and members of the public to refer persons suspected to have mental health condition(s) for further support. AIC with the support of relevant stakeholders could refer such persons to the appropriate medical and social services.
In addition, AIC worked with community service providers to set up community outreach teams and community intervention teams. The community outreach teams educate residents on mental health conditions and, support persons with mental health conditions by providing basic emotional support, follow-up and service linkage to health and social services. As of March 2019, we have 41 community outreach teams which have reached out to over 234,000 people.
The community intervention teams provide allied-health services such as performing mental health needs assessment and psychosocial therapeutic intervention for persons with mental health conditions. 21 community intervention teams have been developed and deployed as at March 2019.
Persons with mental health conditions will benefit from having strong family and social support from an inclusive community besides receiving mental health treatments.
For neighbour disputes, the Community Mediation Centre and Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals are platforms where various stakeholders can be engaged to find a resolution. If suspected mental health conditions are highlighted at these platforms, the persons could be referred to AIC for further support.
AIC has supported and referred over 2,900 persons for health and/ or social services as of March 2019, of which some were involved in neighbour disputes. Such cases are generally challenging to address as the causes are usually multi-faceted and complex, and require multi-stakeholder support and involvement. Nonetheless, there have been cases where persons involved in disputes and, suspected to have mental health conditions, were successfully supported through multi-agency efforts between AIC, community mental health partners and healthcare institutions and other agencies such as the Singapore Police Force, Housing and Development Board and grassroots organisations. The government cannot address such issues, which are usually not just medical in nature but may also involve social issues, alone. Time and a whole of community effort is often required to address such issues for a more caring and inclusive society.
PAPERCUTS