Measures to Prevent Cases of Seniors Passing Away Undetected in Their Homes

11 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for National Development (a) whether the Ministry plans to track cases of seniors who pass away undetected in their homes with a view to introducing preventive measures; and (b) for seniors who are not open to community engagement, what specific measures will be taken to identify when a senior living alone may have passed away and check on them, such as visiting the unit when they have defaulted on rent and utilities payments.

The Minister of State for National Development (Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim) (for the Minister for National Development): Madam, the Ministry for National Development (MND) and the Housing and Development Board (HDB) contribute to the whole-of-Government effort in supporting seniors living alone, through the provision of alert alarm systems which they can use to call for help during emergencies, in studio apartments or selected rental blocks. HDB also checks in on flat owners and tenants on lease management and tenancy matters as needed, or upon receiving ground feedback. HDB will know of cases where seniors passed away undetected at home, either directly or through other agencies called upon to respond.

The community remains a critical source of help in times of emergency. There are existing community efforts to engage seniors who are at-risk, including proactive outreach by Silver Generation Ambassadors under the Agency for Integrated Care, and care and support services offered by the Active Ageing Centres (AACs). For seniors who are not open to community engagement, community partners continue to use different ways to build trust and rapport over and above their check-ins and visits. We will work with these agencies to consider the idea raised by the Member as we work to enhance community support for seniors.

Mdm Deputy Speaker: Mr Yip Hon Weng.

Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang): Thank you, Mdm Deputy Speaker. I have one supplementary question for the Minister of State. Will the Ministry consider including elderly monitoring technology that uses sensors, motion detectors and so on as part of the EASE or the Enhancement for Active Seniors programme. This is to encourage and incentivise seniors and their family members to adopt such systems and prevent seniors living alone from passing on undetected.

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Madam, I thank the Member for the supplementary question and also for the suggestion. Indeed, we are reviewing the EASE programme and we are also exploring technological solutions for seniors to live and age well, as well as in the community.

Mdm Deputy Speaker: Mr Dennis Tan.

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong (Hougang): Thank you, Mdm Deputy Speaker. I thank the Minister of State for his answers. Could I ask that the Ministry or various Ministries consider apportioning more resources to the AACs, so that their staff and volunteers can make better efforts to engage seniors who live alone, whether in 2-room Flexi flats or in normal 3-room, 4-room flats, where they live alone and especially for those who are not open to community engagement. And in that respect, can we even consider reviewing the law to see how we can improve the access of these AAC offices, staff or volunteers, so that they can actually pay more regular attention, rather than engage just like once off, once a year, or something like this.

I know the Parliamentary Question relates to seniors who pass away, specifically that was mentioned. But what is more important is for us to engage seniors who are living alone, who may be estranged from their families or are not close to them and before they start to decline physically, mentally, or if they are suffering from diseases, to reach out to them and make sure that they would be taken care of and, if necessary, to even arrange for alternative care before the inevitable.

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Madam, I thank the Member for the supplementary question. In fact, if the Member has followed the discussion in this House, as well as what is happening on the ground and if the Member looks back, maybe over a decade, the whole ecosystem has been enhanced.

Recently, the Ministry of Health (MOH) also shared about AACs and I work very closely with the AACs within my constituency as well and I can see that not only have resources been enhanced, but I think what is key is that there are more hands on deck today. And not only those who are paid or employed, but also those from the community coming forward. You have the Social Service Agencies coming up with different ideas, some very innovative ideas to see how we can persuade the seniors to come out, to be engaged, to be part of the whole process of living well and ageing well.

MOH has shared what the plan is ahead, and in fact, earlier this year, we updated the Ageing Action Plan, the Live Well, Age Well programme. All this shows that a lot more is being done. But what is key in my view, as I have shared earlier, is how we can continue to galvanise the community because, ideally, no one should die alone. Nevertheless, things happen, for example, someone has a heart attack and he or she may live alone. But what is key is that as we continue on this journey, we strengthen the ecosystem, we look out for one another, we minimise the effects of the elderly dying alone or we minimise the effects of how someone would not be engaged, and at the same time, holding on to the aspiration of how we want them to live and age well in the community.

Mdm Deputy Speaker: Mr Louis Ng.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Thank you, Madam. Could I just follow up on Member Yip Hon Weng's point and ask whether MND can work closely with the Red Cross, who already have a HoME+ programme? I think it stands for the Home Monitoring and Elder Care, which is about placing motion sensors in the house of seniors and when they detect any unusual movements patterns, then the Red Cross call centre is notified. I have seen how it is effective for our Nee Soon East residents, but I think that with more funding and perhaps partnership from the Government, they can expand further and perhaps even be nationalised.

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: I thank the Member for the supplementary question. As I shared earlier, we are exploring technological solutions. So, and we will look at existing programmes as well as explore how we can enhance this journey for our seniors.