Update on Key Initiatives under National Mental Health and Well-being Strategy, and Assessment of Outcomes

3 Ms He Ting Ru asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health (a) for an update on the implementation of key initiatives under the National Mental Health and Well-Being Strategy since its launch in 2023; (b) whether time-bound targets, baselines or KPIs have since been established; and (c) how the Government assesses whether the strategy is on track to achieve its intended outcomes.

The Senior Minister of State for Health (Dr Koh Poh Koon) (for the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, since the launch of the National Mental Health and Well-being Strategy in 2023, we have rolled out several key initiatives.

First, we have guided our mental health service providers to operate based on the Tiered Care Model. Clients can now receive care at the most appropriate setting to better meet their needs. We are also standardising mental health assessments and referral pathways to improve care coordination across different providers.

Second, we have expanded the capacity of mental health services across the acute, primary, community and long-term care sectors. We have also established the First Stop for Mental Health services such as our national mindline 1771 to help people navigate and access services more easily.

Third, we are progressively building the capabilities of community service providers through our National Mental Health Competency Training Framework. We have also trained over 160,000 frontline personnel and volunteers who are now able to identify individuals in mental distress and guide them to get necessary support.

Fourth, we have promoted mental health and well-being through our education efforts. These include Parenting for Wellness to empower parents with knowledge and skills to support their children’s mental health needs, and the Positive Use Guide which offers practical tips to the public to use technology and social media in a healthy and balanced way.

Lastly, we have strengthened workplace mental health support. The Ministry of Manpower has worked with the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council to implement initiatives that build employers’ competencies in supporting employees’ mental well-being. In addition, the WSH Council launched the Handbook on Supporting Employees' Mental Health last year. Meanwhile, the Well-Being Champions Network has grown from 54 founding member organisations to 800 over the last two years.

As part of the strategy, we established the National Mental Health Office in 2024 to coordinate and oversee these multi-agency mental health initiatives. This includes setting and tracking population-level and programme-specific indicators which broadly cover mental health outcomes, accessibility to appropriate care, mental health literacy and attitudes towards individuals with mental health conditions. The performance and targets are regularly reviewed.

Mr Speaker: Ms He.

Ms He Ting Ru (Sengkang): Thank you, Sir. I have two supplementary questions for the Senior Minister of State, the first relates to the National Mental Health Office (NMHO). I noted that in last year during the Committee of Supply, it was stated that the NMHO tracks the mental health data internally.

So. will the Government commit to publishing these outcomes and indicators externally, for instance, through a public dashboard, similar to Australia's Mental National Mental Health Performance Framework. This will allow Parliament and the public to be able to better assess whether the strategy is on track through measurable and regularly updated indicators that are published.

And my second supplementary question relates to measurable outcomes and the impact on the treatment gap. Beyond the listing of initiatives, my supplementary question relates to what measurable outcomes have been observed since the strategy is launched in 2023? For example, rates of self harm, suicide attempts or help seeking behaviours. I note that in 2016, there was a treatment gap with approximately 78% of individuals with conditions not seeking treatment. Has this been re-measured? And if not, how does the Ministry assess progress towards measuring and narrowing this gap?

Dr Koh Poh Koon: Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for her two questions. On the first question, whether the NMHO will publish data, the answer is yes, we will look at how we can meaningfully share more data publicly over time. But I must say that the strategy, while we launch it towards the end of 2023, it is only slightly just more than two years. Mental health is a very complex and multi-faceted issue, so you can see from our strategy we are trying to put more resources into the public domain so that those with mental health issues or concerns can have more accessibility to those resources that we put out. The Member will understand that for those suffering from mental health issues, it sometimes takes quite a while to convince them to seek help. So, it is not so easy for us to measure outcomes in such a short timeframe. The NMHO actually focuses on monitoring medium- to longer-term trends. In time to come when we have more meaningful data that we can share publicly, we will do so.

On the second question of what outcomes have been observed, this is also related to my first point that some of these are longer-term issues that we will take time to observe. But as you hear from my main reply, what we are doing is to make sure that in our strategy, make sure that navigation is not a hurdle, so there is a first touch point to the mindline resources for those who may want to seek help to be guided, to help them navigate the resources that are available, so that by the time they make the decision to step forward and receive care, they will not be lost in the system. Also, through the tiered care model, we then make sure that they receive the appropriate care. Our focus now is on building the capacity and the competency of those who are delivering those tiered model care as we want those who are ready to seek help to be able to get the help that they need.

Based on this early set of strategy, we will continue to measure indicators, and in time to come, share data where available.