Dr Lam Pin Min, Minister of State for Health, at the Singapore Patient Conference 2015 and the launch of the inaugural Singapore Patient Action Awards (30 Oct) said, “This year’s conference is a good example with the National Healthcare Group and the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) coming together to organise this conference. There are about 210,000 caregivers in Singapore today. As the population rapidly ages, this number will continue to grow and it is our collective responsibility to ensure that we are better prepared for the heavier caregiving responsibilities ahead.”
It is now easier for caregivers to seek help and support as AIC has expanded on its touch-points to make care information more easily accessible to senior citizens and their caregivers online. This includes the Singapore Silver Pages portal, E-Care locator, and the Singapore Silver Line, a national elderly care helpline. Singapore is actively providing better access to information for caregivers.
Singapore Silver Pages is a ‘one-stop’ resource on eldercare and caregiving. It is the first portal to integrate social care, healthcare and caregiving resources under one roof for both seniors and caregivers.
AIC has also collaborated with the Regional Health Systems (RHS) to set up AICare Link at four restructured hospitals. AICare Link at Tan Tock Seng Hospital is one of the newest additions.
“AICare Links in the hospitals will allow caregivers and their families to speak directly with Care Consultants to access information on care services, assistance schemes and grants. More than 12,000 patients have used AICare Link’s services to plan their post-discharge care options to-date.”
These community partnerships are a key step in the right direction as we continue to work on enhancing training support for patients and their caregivers.
Singapore is striving to make quality care more accessible to patients in the community. Through programmes such as the Virtual Hospital and Post-Acute Care at Home, TTSH partners community providers to support caregivers with care delivery at a patients’ home.