By Vimita Mohandas, Channel NewsAsia, 14 Apr 2012
The government has pledged to spend S$3.8 million on building up the medical social work profession.
The initiative was announced by Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong at the inaugural Inspirational Series for Medical Social Work symposium.
S$1.8 million will be allocated for undergraduate and mid-term scholarships, while the rest will be used to support clinical, professional and leadership development initiatives.
Besides conducting psycho-social assessments of patients and their support systems, medical social workers (MSWs) also provide counselling for patients who have difficulties coping with their illness or financial hardship.
Besides conducting psycho-social assessments of patients and their support systems, medical social workers (MSWs) also provide counselling for patients who have difficulties coping with their illness or financial hardship.
MSWs also play an important role in discharge planning and helping patients and families gain access to relevant community organisations and resources.
As Singapore progresses towards a multi-disciplinary and inter-agency approach to rendering patient care, MSWs will have to work more closely with external service partners, Mr Gan said.
This will "enable integrated care for the patient and caregivers," Mr Gan added.
"I believe MSWs will make a difference across the acute, inter-mediate and long term care sectors given your (MSWs) skills and expertise in managing complex social cases."
Manpower demand for medical social workers are set to double to 800 by 2020, the Ministry of Health said.
The government's announcement is timely as it would help to draw more people into the medical social work profession, experts said.
"Today, we still face the problem of attrition where medical social workers, after three to five years, will burn out and leave the profession to join other professions," Lilian Mark, head of medical social work at the Institute of Mental Health said.
"Another challenge we face is recruitment. The numbers are there, the funding is there, but we are unable to fill the positions in the sector."
"It's hard to fill up the headcount with people who are passionate about the work," Ms Mark said.
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