Trend of Hiring of Professional Care-giving Help for Elderly in Past Three Years and Plans for Review of Subsidies and Eligibility for Home Caregiving Grant

25 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Health (a) over the past three years, what has been trend for hiring of professional care-giving help for the elderly; and (b) whether the Ministry plans to do a review of subsidies and eligibility for the Home Caregiving Grant.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: The Ministry of Health has a range of professional services that provide care-giving help. These include day care services including dementia day care, Integrated Home and Day Care (IHDC)¹, Home Personal Care (HPC)², Home Palliative Care, Day Hospice, and short-term respite care³ such as nursing home respite and centre-based weekend respite services. Formal healthcare workers are deployed in these services to care for seniors.

There has been an upward trend in utilisation of these services, from 17,000 in 2018 to close to 19,000 in 2019. However, there was a decline in utilisation to an average of 12,000 across Q1 to Q3 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

MOH continually reviews our schemes and services to ensure that they meet care needs of our seniors. This includes the Home Caregiving Grant which was introduced in 2019 and provides a $200 monthly payout to eligible individuals with permanent moderate disability living in the community. Families who need further help with care-giving services and support can approach the Agency for Integrated Care for further assistance.