SINGAPORE – Around 300 patients who have been at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for a long time but no longer require acute inpatient care will be gradually moved into nursing homes in the next few years.

This is aimed at freeing up beds in the packed psychiatric hospital, National Healthcare Group (NHG) chief executive Joe Sim told The Straits Times on the sidelines of IMH’s Nurses Day event on July 26. 

Such patients have been in IMH for at least one year for various reasons, including a lack of family support.

IMH, which has around 2,000 beds, is almost full.

Long-staying patients there total about 1,000.

IMH chief executive Daniel Fung said that the hospital’s aim is to find more appropriate residential settings, including nursing homes, for around 600 of its long-stayers in total.

It is looking for potential homes or centres that can accommodate the rest.

The hospital currently runs a programme to rehabilitate those who have been there for a long time and help them ease back into the community.

In brief remarks made at IMH’s Nurses Day event on July 26, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung acknowledged the work the nurses are putting in, particularly given that IMH is Singapore’s largest hospital with the most number of patients who stay there for a long time, among all hospitals.

“You’re now at about 2,000 inpatients. No other hospital even comes close. So, it’s a tremendous amount of work,” he told the nurses gathered at the IMH lecture hall for the yearly celebration. 

“As Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said, (mental health) is an important national priority… The treatment, the acute work, the rehab work you do here, we do our best to support you, including recruitment of nurses… infrastructure.”

Mr Ong also said that more importantly, to manage the rising tide of mental health issues, the focus must be on going upstream, for instance, starting with controlling young children’s usage of devices and social media.

He gave out awards to nurses and nursing teams, including nurse clinician and advanced practice nurse Wendy Tan Yen Li, who received the Nightingale Award, the highest nursing accolade in IMH.

Professor Sim, meanwhile, said the masterplan of the hospital is being relooked to see if it can increase capacity.