MOH Leads Review to Strengthen Caregiver Support for Seniors

1        The Ministry of Health (MOH) is leading a review to strengthen support for senior caregiving, and will be consulting caregivers, service providers and stakeholders from September to December 2018 to understand their needs and to chart key directions for the review.

2        MOH recognises that caregivers to seniors will play an increasingly important role as our population ages. By 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be over 65 years of age and the care needs of the population will increase in tandem. At the same time, families will become smaller. As a result, the old-age support ratio will decrease from 4.8 today to 2.7 in 2030, and the caregiving burden will grow.

3        The review will complement the existing suite of programmes and assistance that caregivers currently benefit from, including tax relief for caring for parents or handicapped family members, Caregivers Training Grant, Eldersitter programme offering home respite for caregivers of family members with dementia, and AICare Links’ one-stop information and referral points set up at hospitals and Agency for Integrated Care office.

4        The review aims to identify opportunities to strengthen care navigation in the community, improve caregiver support services and ways to empower caregivers. MOH will seek the views of caregivers and other groups of stakeholders such as aged care service providers, healthcare professionals, as well as community organisations through a series of targeted focus group discussions (FGDs). Feedback from the FGDs will provide valuable insights on how the government and the community can further enhance our efforts to support caregiver. Caregivers can also share their views at wecare@moh.gov.sg.

5        At a community engagement event with caregivers today, Mr Edwin Tong, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Law & Ministry of Health, said: “We expect senior caregiving needs to grow in tandem with our ageing population, and we need to look ahead at how we can better support caregivers for seniors. MOH has been working closely with providers and community partners to build up the range, capacity and quality of eldercare services. While we continue these efforts, we also want to focus on providing more direct and holistic support to caregivers. This requires various stakeholders from not just the health and social care sectors, but also the larger community including employers, families and individuals to come together to co-create solutions with caregivers.”

6        We will study the feedback gathered through the engagement sessions, and develop specific recommendations on how we can strengthen support for senior caregiving journeys.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

23 OCTOBER 2018