Capacity Increase at IMH and Alexandra Hospital for Patients Seeking Mental Health Specialist Care

Ms Nadia Ahmad Samdin asked the Minister for Health (a) what is the planned capacity increase for patients seeking mental health specialist care by 2030 at (i) IMH and (ii) Alexandra Hospital; and (b) what steps will be taken to support the necessary resources required.

The Senior Minister of State for Health (Dr Janil Puthucheary) (for the Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, Sir, Alexandra Hospital will provide outpatient and inpatient mental health specialist services, including 70 acute beds for psychiatric care and rehabilitation. The Institute of Mental Health (IMH) has recently refurbished 11 acute psychiatric wards to enhance inpatient care and will be expanding its capacity to meet future demand.

To support the increase in demand for mental health services, the Government is planning a 30% increase in the number of psychiatrists and 40% increase in the number of healthcare workers training in psychology by 2030. The Government will also expand mental health services in the primary and community settings to support the National Mental Health and Well-being Strategy.

Mr Speaker: Ms Nadia.

Ms Nadia Ahmad Samdin (Ang Mo Kio): Thank you, Speaker, just a quick follow-up supplementary question for the Senior Minister of State. Thank you for sharing about the training places and learning opportunities. I think many students are very interested to pursue this route. Could the Senior Minister of State give a little bit more detail about how these training opportunities will trickle down to our learning institutions?

Dr Janil Puthucheary: If I understand Ms Nadia Samdin's question, it is about how the training opportunities will be made available within the learning institutions. There are a number of institutions that already provide training in psychological and psychiatric services. Our approach would generally be to work with them to see how we can expand their capacity.

One of the challenges in this space is that the training of such healthcare workers requires what I call practicums, on-the-job training. You need to have clinical placements rather than only lectures and seminars. So, the rate limiting factor for enhancing our capacity is the number of mentors and training places that we have within the clinical settings, rather than within the education institutions.

We will work with all the partners and stakeholders to be able to realise our plans for an increase in capacity.