PALLIATIVE CARE

PALLIATIVE CARE

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(Integration): **

19.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Health (a) if he will provide an update on the state of palliative care in Singapore and whether it is now better integrated across our healthcare system; and (b) whether there are enough trained healthcare professionals to provide effective palliative care.

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Palliative care in Singapore has grown since its early days in the 1980s. There are now seven providers of inpatient hospice and home palliative care. Together, they serve more than 5,000 patients a year. Palliative care has also entered mainstream medical care and palliative medicine, a recognised sub-specialty since 2007. Patients can now use Medisave for inpatient hospice care and soon, home palliative care. There are now palliative care units in practically all the public hospitals with significant oncology or palliative patient loads. The private sector has also taken an interest in palliative care.

We are happy with the development but there is scope to go further. First, there are many more patients and their families who can benefit from palliative care. We have to continue to raise awareness through continuing public education. My Ministry is planning a major push this year.

Second, there is now better coordination of care between hospitals and hospice providers. The hospice service providers can receive direct referrals from the hospitals. We would like to extend this to nursing homes where some patients may benefit from palliative care. Tan Tock Seng Hospital has started a pilot programme to provide end-of-life planning and palliative care to some nursing homes.

Third, we need to further strengthen community palliative care so that they can cope with rising demand for their service. My Ministry is working with hospice service providers on this. An important area is availability of professional staff with interest in palliative medicine. We are still short of palliative care doctors, nurses and social workers. We will recruit and train more. We must also leverage on the large number of family physicians out there. We will help them upgrade their skills in palliative care approaches to enable their terminally ill patients to receive good care towards the end of life. Some training in palliative care is already part of their basic training. But we hope some of them will subsequently take up more advanced training in this field.

And we must not neglect the nurses. My Ministry’s Healthcare Manpower Development Programme has been extended to provide training in palliative care nursing. For example, we are supporting Dover Park Hospice to train up to 100 nurses in basic palliative care nursing within the next 12 months. We will also encourage more nurses to take up the Advanced Diploma in Nursing (Palliative Care) programme at the Nanyang Polytechnic.