Medical Matters
- Get a referral letter from the patient's doctor.
- Prepare detailed information regarding the patient's diagnosis, past and present treatments, assessment of current physical and mental conditions, as well as required medications.
- Check whether the chosen hospice provides the medical services the patient requires should he opt for in-patient hospice care programme.
- Communicate the patient's nutritional and medical requirements to the hospice for in-patients and day-care patients.
- If necessary, continue seeing the patient's doctor for regular
checkups and updates on his condition. (Not all patients will
need to, or even want to, continue to go back to see their doctors.)
Financial Matters
- Check whether the patient is eligible for early CPF withdrawal, and/or activation of Dependants' Protection Scheme (DPS) and Home Protection Scheme (HPS). If so, an application to the CPF Board can be made, accompanied by a doctor's memo stating that the patient is permanently unfit for work due to his illness.
- Hospice home care is free of charge. For inpatient and day-care services,
patients may qualify for subsidy according to the Means Test.
For more details, please go to: http://www.moh.gov.sg/corp/elderlycare/subsidies/intro.do.
- Have a discussion between the patient and his family on how to meet the costs for the unsubsidized portion of the patient's hospice and palliative care, and other end-of-life matters. If there are financial concerns, they can approach a medical social worker.
Hospice Matters
- Communicate to family members and hospice caregiving team the patient's preferences for forms of therapy and methods of caregiving.
- Discuss with the patient's doctor, family members and the hospice caregiving team on the appropriate type of hospice and palliative care.
- Meet with the hospice care giving team in person.
Personal Matters
- Have the patient discuss his concerns about his condition and the care that he will be receiving.
- Plan an advance directive to assign someone to make decisions pertaining to the patient's health and wellbeing when he is no longer capable of doing so for himself.
- Encourage the patient to draw up a living will that contains instructions of the decisions to make when he is unable to make coherent decisions.
- Check that the patient has made his CPF nominations. Initiate a discussion with a lawyer on making a will regarding inheritances.
- Encourage the patient to speak to his family and friends and deal with unresolved personal issues.
- Encourage the patient to speak to a religious leader to help deal with his condition.
- Help the patient express his dying wishes to his family.
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