Institute of Mental Health (IMH)

18 August 2015

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar
MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC

Question No. 762

To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether there are plans to upgrade and expand the Institute of Mental Health (IMH); and (b) whether the Ministry will consider increasing the ratio of caregiver to patient for IMH.

Oral Reply

1                Upgrading of IMH’s infrastructure to offer better care to patients has been on-going to meet the needs of the population.  Some of the new facilities at IMH include:

a)    Two dementia-friendly wards at IMH’s campus built in 2014; and a
b)    High Dependency Psychiatric Care Unit which was operational last year.

2        In addition, IMH has also upgraded its Specialist Outpatient Clinics at its Buangkok premises in 2013; and IMH’s Community Wellness Clinics at Queenstown and Geylang Polyclinics in 2009 and 2013 respectively.

3        Currently, several IMH facilities are being upgraded to improve the inpatient care and these include:

a)    The expansion of the Mood Disorder Ward for patients with conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder; and
b)    Creation of an Early Psychosis Ward for patients with first-episode and early psychosis.

4        MOH regularly reviews the mental health services capacity in our system and when needed, new capacities and services will be added to meet the mental healthcare needs of our patients. 

5        For manpower, IMH has about a thousand nursing staff today, with an adequate nursing staff to patient ratio as required by MOH’s regulation.  The nursing staff to patient ratio has improved from 1: 2.46 in 2010 to 1:1.68 in 2014.  Over the years, the number of clinical and nursing staff at IMH has grown to keep pace with the gradual increase in patient numbers.  The increase in manpower at IMH is as follows:

a)   The average number of doctors has increased from 98 in 2010 to 150 today;
b)  The average number of allied health professionals has increased from 328 in 2010 to 481 today; and
c)   The average number of nursing staff has increased from 862 in 2010 to 1025 today.

6        IMH is continually innovating to provide holistic care for its patients. Other than traditional caregivers in the institute, IMH case managers ensure that patients are doing well after their discharge, through telephonic case management and home visits whenever required.

7        In addition, IMH also works on the development of community mental health to support persons with mental health problems in the community.  For example, IMH has worked in collaboration with Agency for Integrated Care to engage a pool of GP partners to help manage more stable patients in the primary care setting through the GP Partnership Programme for Mental Health.  These outreach efforts reduce the reliance on tertiary services and support better care management in the community.