Lowering Home Caregiving Grant Eligibility Threshold to Two Activities of Daily Living in Selected Cases

14 Mr Kwek Hian Chuan Henry asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health whether the Government will consider extending the Home Caregiving Grant to families caring for persons who require assistance with two, instead of three, activities of daily living, particularly where the ability of care recipients to live independently is significantly impaired.

The Senior Minister of State for Health (Mr Tan Kiat How) (for the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health): Sir, there is a range of schemes to support residents with care needs. These include the Seniors' Mobility and Enabling Fund (SMF), Migrant Domestic Worker Levy Concession and subsidised home- or centre-based care such as the enhanced Home Personal Care.

The Home Caregiving Grant (HCG) is targeted at those with higher levels of functional impairment, who require permanent assistance with at least three of the six activities of daily living (ADLs).

Mr Speaker: Mr Kwek.

Mr Kwek Hian Chuan Henry (Kebun Baru): I thank the Senior Minister of State for the clarification and answer. I have a supplementary question. Let us say right now, the threshold is three ADLs, but from time to time, we, like many of my colleagues here, meet residents who only meet two ADLs threshold, but for significant certain reasons they are not able to live independently. And for such situations, will the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) and the Ministry of Health be open to appeals and what is the likelihood of such appeals being taken very seriously and being approved?

Mr Tan Kiat How: Sir, the HCG has a common three ADL-eligibility threshold, which is applied consistently and fairly across all applicants. Individual circumstances are instead considered in assessing the persons for the wider range of care and caregiver support available.

As the Member mentioned, and I am sure many Members in the House would have encountered residents who approach us, those requiring short-term care due to, perhaps, temporary disability or other medical conditions may be eligible for subsidised care under the other kind of care schemes. I have mentioned a few just now, for example, the enhanced Home Personal Care or the Interim Caregiver Support.

These schemes help to offset caregiving expenses, while supporting both the care recipients' recovery and caregivers' respite needs. These subsidised care schemes are not tied to the ADL threshold. I have mentioned some of the schemes earlier. I can mention a few more just to provide some context to the Member's question, for example, the SMF, which subsidises up to 90% of devices and home healthcare items, are for eligible seniors who are assessed to require these items to support ageing in place. So, it is not tied to ADLs per se.

There are also other schemes that there are individuals with significant short-term care needs who cannot be cared for at home or in the community, they can apply for schemes such as the Nursing Home Respite Care.

So, there are many subsidised schemes out there that we provide, and we are continually enhancing and reviewing them. We do not just look at the HCG. So, I encourage the Member to check out the AIC website to look at some of the other care schemes available.