Primary Care Partnership Scheme (PCPS)

Dr Teo Ho Pin asked the Minister for Health (a) how many Singaporeans have benefited from the Primary Care Partnership Scheme (PCPS) over the last three years; (b) how many General Practitioners (GPs) are currently participating in the PCPS; and (c) what measures are in place to encourage more GP clinics to participate in the scheme.

Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for Health (a) what is the take-up rate so far by medical clinics/GPs to become partners/members of the Primary Care Partnership Scheme; (b) what is the total number of such partners and what is the number in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC and Punggol South in particular; and (c) how does the Ministry incentivise more medical clinics/GPs to join the Scheme.

The Minister for Health (Mr Gan Kim Yong): Mr Speaker, may I have your permission to take Question Nos 1 and 2 together?

Mr Speaker: Yes.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Sir, today, there are over 450 GP clinics participating in PCPS. For Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, there are 16 PCPS clinics, with three located within Punggol South. Over the last three years, an average of 12,000 needy elderly and disabled patients benefited from easy access to subsidised primary healthcare in private GP clinics through PCPS each year.

As announced in August last year, PCPS will be enhanced to help more Singaporeans better manage their chronic diseases early and avoid unnecessary complications later. These enhancements, which will be implemented in January, include lowering the qualifying age for PCPS from 65 to 40 years old and raising the income criteria from $800 to $1,500 per capita monthly household income to benefit middle- and low-income Singaporeans. Since August, approximately 10,000 people have signed up for PCPS.

To date, an additional 58 clinics island-wide have signed up to participate in the scheme and we expect more GPs to come on board once the expanded PCPS scheme comes into effect. MOH will also strengthen our engagement, through Agency for Integrated Care, to increase our GP participation rate.

In parallel to PCPS, MOH is currently seeking the inputs from the GP community to co-develop the Primary Care Masterplan. The plan aims to better support GPs in managing patients in the community. We are also looking at ways to streamline procedures such as the process for submission of claims to lessen the administrative work for GPs. I hope to share more details with Members shortly.

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I would like to reassure Mr Gan Thiam Poh and Dr Teo Ho Pin that my Ministry will continue to study ways to encourage more GPs to participate in PCPS, so that it would be more convenient for eligible Singaporeans to seek subsidised care at GP clinics close to their homes.

Dr Teo Ho Pin (Bukit Panjang): Supplementary question, Sir. May I ask the Minister, out of the 450 participating GPs, how many of them have seen less than 10 patients over the last one year? For GPs who are inactive, may I ask whether the Ministry has plans to encourage them to be more active in using the PCPS?

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Sir, I do not have the exact numbers with me today, but I would like to explain that the PCPS in the past was restricted to those aged 65 years and above. We have since lowered the age requirement. We have also liberalised the income criteria, so in terms of eligible Singaporeans for PCPS, it is a quantum change. With the new criteria, up to 700,000 Singaporeans will be eligible. The number of patients eligible for PCPS is going to be quite different from the past. I would like to encourage more GPs to come on board this scheme.

Mr Sitoh Yih Pin (Potong Pasir): Sir, I would like to ask the Minister if MOH has plans to encourage more GPs to join this scheme. The feedback that we have been getting is this: in Potong Pasir, we have 10 GPs who qualify for PCPS. Out of the 10, three have signed up, two are signing up but five are still thinking about it. The five that are thinking about it gave us feedback that they think the claims process is rather long. One of them told us that she does not have a personal computer (PC) in her clinic. And because the claims have to be made online, she is not thinking of joining the PCPS.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Sir, as I said in my reply just now, we are working on a masterplan. As part of engagement efforts for the masterplan, we are approaching GPs to engage them and explain to them what the new masterplan is about and to co-create this masterplan together with them. The masterplan also involves the creation of Community Healthcare Centres (CHCs). These centres will provide administrative support to GPs in administering their patients, especially schemes related to PCPS. With the Community Healthcare Centres, we will be able to provide additional support in terms of administrative work to lessen the burden on GPs. This will encourage more GPs to come on board the scheme. As to the Member's question about GPs without computers, we also have schemes to encourage GPs to come onboard our electronic system. We will also be able to provide support if they decide to computerise their clinics. We have schemes to help them introduce computerisation.

More importantly and not just for the PCPS, it is quite critical for our GPs to move towards electronic healthcare records. This will facilitate patient transfer between primary care and tertiary care. In the event that the patient needs hospitalisation, the hospital will then have access to the records of the patient electronically, rather than relying on manual records that are kept with his primary care doctor. If that doctor were to be on leave or were to go away for a period of time, his patients can be better cared for if the records are properly kept using computerisation. I would really encourage GPs to look at computerisation, beyond just participating in PCPS, as a step towards better care for their patients.

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Dr Lam Pin Min (Sengkang West): Sir, the objective of the PCPS is to help low- and middle-income families better manage chronic diseases. In order to cover a wider population, I would like to suggest to the Minister that we could remove the age criterion altogether, as long as the income criterion is met.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Sir, I thank the Member for that suggestion. We will take on board his suggestion when we review the PCPS in future.