SINGAPORE, Feb 8 — By 2030, all 25 polyclinics in Singapore as well as 900 more general practitioner (GP) clinics will be equipped to provide mental health services, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced.
This will bring mental health services "closer to the community", he said in Parliament on Wednesday (Feb 7) at the end of a two-day debate on a motion filed by five People's Action Party MPs to advance mental health in Singapore.
At present, 19 out of the 25 polyclinics here provide mental health services. Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State for Health, said that these services are provided by "multi-disciplinary" teams comprising family physicians, psychologists, medical social workers and nurses.
As for GP clinics, more than 450 GPs have been trained under the Mental Health-GP Partnership Programme by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), to help GPs support people who are able to independently manage their mental health conditions.
The Government aims to bring a total of 1,350 GP clinics under the Healthier SG initiative on board by 2030.
Dr Puthucheary said that 45,000 patients have benefitted from the mental health services provided at polyclinics and GP clinics so far.
The expansion will "ensure that more patients with common mental health conditions, like anxiety and depression, have access to mental health services in primary care", he added.
The motion by the ruling party's Government Parliamentary Committee for Health was led by Dr Wan Rizal, MP for Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency, and filed by four other MPs. It sought to recognise the importance of mental health and called for a national strategy to enhance mental health and well-being.
A total of 27 MPs and five political office-holders spoke over two days.
Apart from Mr Wong and Dr Puthucheary, the other three office-holders who spoke were:
• Ms Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State for Education and Manpower
• Mr Eric Chua, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth
• Ms Rahayu Mahzam, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Law
TODAY looks at what initiatives and moves the Government have made in improving access to mental health services.
Why it matters
Despite Singapore having more than 200 different mental health services, which include phone lines, websites and in-person services, people seeking help may still go through an overwhelming process because many might not know where, when and how to seek help, Mr Chua said.
"The complex web of services available can indeed have the unintended consequence of deterring help-seeking," Mr Chua added, emphasising the need to address this "treatment gap".
Dr Puthucheary said that GP clinics and polyclinics are important "touch points" for people with mental health needs, because they are community-based and easily accessible.
"There is also a strong association between physical and mental health conditions, which makes it ideal for the primary care doctor to treat the patient’s physical and mental health conditions holistically," he added.
What is needed to meet demand for care
Apart from roping in GP clinics and polyclinics by the end of this decade, the authorities also want to grow the number of public sector psychiatrists by about 30 per cent to 260, and the number of psychologists by about 40 per cent to 300.
Doing so would help meet the anticipated increase in demand for mental health services, Ms Rahayu said.
As of 2022, there were 203 registered psychiatrists and 212 psychologists in the public sector.
In addition to the larger pool of mental health professionals, the Ministry of Health (MOH) will expand its hospital and long-term care capacity to meet the care needs of patients with severe and chronic mental health conditions, Dr Puthucheary said.
This involves increasing the inpatient psychiatric bed capacity of IMH and other public hospitals. For instance, by 2030, 70 acute psychiatric beds will be added at the redeveloped Alexandra Hospital to complement the 1,000 beds in other public hospitals and IMH.
MOH will also increase long-term psychiatric care capacity, which comprises facilities such as psychiatric nursing homes, rehabilitation homes and sheltered homes.
These step-down care facilities support medically stable patients who no longer require tertiary care, but still need residential care support or rehabilitation before they reintegrate back into the community.
There are close to 3,000 step-down residential care beds today, and there will be about 3,500 of such beds by 2030.
More frontline workers, volunteers
An extra 28,000 frontline personnel and volunteers who serve at various community and social service points will be trained to identify people struggling with mental health, Mr Wong said.
They would also be able to provide "psychological first aid" if needed, Dr Puthucheary said.
This is on top of the 54,000 volunteers and 48,000 frontline workers that have already been trained to recognise and provide basic emotional support to people in need. They include teachers and officers from various agencies such as the Singapore Police Force and the Housing and Development Board.
The eventual goal is to extend such training to more than 130,000 frontline personnel and volunteers by 2030, which would ensure a broader network of support for people with mental health needs, Dr Puthucheary added.
Addressing mental health across all society
Acknowledging that MPs have spoken about mental health issues in schools, workplaces and as well as the community, the political office-holders highlighted several efforts by the Government to address such concerns in the various arenas.
In schools, Ms Rahayu noted that the Health Promotion Board (HPB) offers training for students, specifically from Primary 6 to Secondary 1, to help them cope better through their critical transition from primary to secondary schools.
She added that HPB has also trained more than 2,200 students from institutes of higher learning as peer supporters last year, equipping them with skills such as empathetic listening and basic mental health first-aid.
At the workplace, there will be the impending Workplace Fairness Legislation, which Ms Gan said would prevent discrimination against employees and jobseekers with mental health conditions.
For the wider community, Mr Chua said that a new National Mental Health Hotline and Text Service will be set up by 2025, which will connect callers and texters to the most appropriate support or services to meet their needs.
For instance, those with no or minimal mental health needs and want to learn well-being skills can be referred to community well-being programmes, while those with suicidal tendencies may be connected to the Samaritans of Singapore’ hotline and text service for support.
A practice guide for the social service and health sectors, which would help clients with mental health conditions receive the most appropriate support as their needs change, will also be launched by this year. — TODAY
