The Singapore Family Physician

Back to issue Vol 43 No. 3 - Managing Complex Patients in Family Medicine Settings

Assessing Social Care Needs and Community Resources for Complex Patients

Christine Hindarto Lim
Matthew Ng Joo Ming
The Singapore Family Physician Vol 43 No 3 - Managing Complex Patients in Family Medicine Settings
31 - 37
1 July 2017
0377-5305
Improvements in medical science and increasing survival rates on a background of an ageing population have changed the disease demographics in Singapore towards one with an increasingly complex chronic disease burden. Many will need to tap on community resources to age gracefully in place. The increasing number of single elderly who live alone also provides a challenge as research has shown that they are the highest users of healthcare resources. In Singapore, there is no lack of schemes to help the elderly poor as compared to other countries in the region. The problem, rather, is that there are too many targeted help schemes – with varying criteria and limiting conditions attached. This leads to an application process that is daunting and has many gaps where some who will benefit from the schemes but don’t qualify because they don’t meet the providers criteria.