Subventions for Community Counselling and Inclusion of Singaporeans Aged 40 and above with Chronic Conditions in Enrolment in Healthier SG Programme

35 Dr Wan Rizal asked the Minister for Health in light of the Government's intention to include mental health under the Healthier SG initiative, whether the Ministry will consider providing subventions for citizens in need of community counselling, particularly in addressing issues such as caregiver stress.

36 Ms Ng Ling Ling asked the Minister for Health in view that more than 24,000 individuals have pre-enrolled for Healthier SG programme during the pre-enrolment exercise for Singaporeans aged 40 and above with chronic conditions, whether the Ministry will consider extending the Healthier SG enrolment to include Singaporeans aged 40 and above when Healthier SG is officially launched on 5 July 2023.

The Minister for Health (Mr Ong Ye Kung): Mr Deputy Speaker, may I have your permission to answer the next two Parliamentary Questions together, please?

Mr Deputy Speaker: Yes, please.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: My response will also cover the matters raised in the question by Dr Lim Wee Kiak¹ which are scheduled for a subsequent Sitting. Dr Lim is not here but I hope he gets to read my answer and if it answers his question, he may want to withdraw his questions for a future Sitting.

We started a Healthier SG pre-enrolment exercise in May this year so that residents aged 40 and above with chronic care needs can continue to be cared for by their regular general practitioner (GP) clinics. So far, over 47,000 of these residents have been pre-enrolled, so, the response has been encouraging.

We are commencing national Healthier SG enrolment from 5 July this year. We will need to do this in phases, to manage the workload of our GP clinics and polyclinics and ensure residents have a positive experience when they enrol to Healthier SG. We will prioritise those with chronic conditions, followed by those aged 60 and above. We hope to extend this to residents aged 40 to 59 sometime next year.

In providing care to residents with chronic conditions under Healthier SG, family doctors will be guided by care protocols. We have, so far, developed 12 such protocols. Every one of them requires significant consultation, coordination, preparation as well as training. We will expand the coverage and intend to cover mental health in due course.

In any case, Healthier SG is not the only avenue to care for residents experiencing mental health issues. Under the Community Mental Health Masterplan, we work with social service agencies to set up community outreach and intervention teams to support persons with mental health needs as well as their caregivers. This includes educating caregivers on stress management and self-care, linking them with counselling services and support groups when needed. And the Ministry of Health (MOH) provides full funding to these teams and residents that can access their services and support at no cost.

As Healthier SG is progressively rolled out and stabilised, it is possible for residents to receive annual health reports, as suggested by Dr Lim Wee Kiak. With Healthier SG, enrolled residents will have access to a personalised Health Plan via their HealthHub mobile application or the web portal. If the resident is diligent with his health screening, he will also have access via HealthHub to his latest health screening results. We will monitor the usage of these information on HealthHub and explore how we can further enhance it to support residents' health journeys.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Ms Ng Ling Ling.

Ms Ng Ling Ling (Ang Mo Kio): Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I thank Minister for the very positive updates on the number that had already been pre-enrolled. I have two supplementary questions.

Some of my Jalan Kayu residents having heard about Healthier SG, especially the younger ones, who knows that chronic disease risk can start from 40 years old and seeing that those with chronic disease can be pre-enrolled, asked that in the matter of the year, they understand the phasing and to prioritise our seniors, should they be in a GP clinic and the GP clinic has the capacity to enrol, can they be more proactive and be allowed? So, the question is, when if they happen to be in the GP clinic for the next one year before the phasing comes and the GP clinic has the capacity to enrol them, can they be considered?

The second supplementary question is that some of my more senior residents who have been seeing polyclinics for their chronic disease management are quite convinced that GP clinics may be closer to their home and as they age, mobility issues come in being and being enrolled will be good. So, they are asking whether their out-of-pocket expenditure when go GP clinic for their regular follow-up visits. Will the consultation fee and medication fee be also managed and be close to what they are paying for at polyclinics?

Mr Ong Ye Kung: The first question is about the young. Even with the GP, that particular clinic has capacity, we do need to look at the nationwide capacity. We need to prioritise capacity for those who are older. So, from a national perspective, from a systemic perspective, it will be difficult for us to implement this.

In any case, Healthier SG is about MOH as well as the health ecosystem doing more to help people to take care of their own health. So, for young residents, I will encourage them, with or without the Government's explicit support, you can always do more to lead a healthier lifestyle. And I think the young are increasingly mindful of that. So, please do help us encourage them. There is a lot they can do here – eat less sugar, eat less salt and have less device time to start with.

As for more senior ones, we will encourage private GPs to price their consultations and their services competitively. I do know that because of rising healthcare needs plus Healthier SG, costs can increase. But through benchmarking, through persuasion, through encouragement, plus giving more options to patients and residents, we hope there would be competitive dynamics that can keep prices in check as much as possible. So far, healthcare inflation has lagged behind national inflation and we will try our best to continue to do so.