Synergy among Mental Health Professionals to Ensure Patient Follow-up Treatment

Ms Kuik Shiao-Yin asked the Minister for Health how does the Ministry (i) encourage synergy between all mental health professionals, such as psychiatrists, psychologists and counsellors; (ii) ensure that patients diagnosed with mental illness are followed up on, especially if they choose not to return to IMH for follow-up treatment; and (iii) work with employers and insurance companies to encourage the use of medical benefits for employees to offset the cost of mental health counselling or therapy.

To encourage synergy between mental health professionals, both our public hospitals and mental health teams in the community adopt a multidisciplinary approach. For example, each patient admitted is assigned a lead clinician who will lead the delivery of care, supported by a team-based system comprising other doctors, nurses and allied healthcare professionals where appropriate. The multidisciplinary approach has enabled specialists and allied health professionals to work closely together.

For patients who have higher needs and require closer follow-up, IMH has put in place a post-discharge programme to ensure that these patients comply with follow-up treatment through telephonic case management and home visits when necessary.

To ensure that patients are supported in the community, AIC has worked with VWOs, social agencies and grassroots organisations to manage and care for people with mental health issues. These community programmes provide clinical care, psychotherapy, education and support for both the patients and caregivers. They complement the hospital teams in outreach to them within the community setting and conduct home visits for these patients where necessary. Over the last two years, these programmes have benefited over 18,000 clients, caregivers and community partners.

In terms of affordability, MOH had enhanced MediShield coverage from 1 March 2013 to cover inpatient treatment of psychiatric conditions. Most Integrated Shield Plans also provide enhanced coverage for such treatment, on top of MediShield. In addition, Medisave can be used for the outpatient treatment of bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, depression and anxiety.

HPB also provides a workplace health promotion grant for employers to implement mental health and well-being related initiatives for their employees. In FY2014, 718 workplaces have taken up this grant benefiting an estimated 150,000 employees. More than 80% of these workplaces have invested at least 30% of their grant on providing services, such

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as phone or face-to-face counselling, psychological assessment and interventions.