Nursing homes tap professionals to take charge of some patients' affairs

They liquidate the assets of the mentally incapacitated to pay the homes, other bills

- Theresa Tan

Nursing homes are turning to professionals to act on behalf of their mentally incapacitated patients who do not have loved ones to take charge of their affairs - in a bid to get the bills paid.

Ms Esther Tan, general manager of Special Needs Trust Company (SNTC), said it has 60 trust accounts set up by professional deputies for nursing home patients in the past five years.

This means that at least 60 such patients in the past five years had professional deputies, such as lawyers and social workers who are not related to them, liquidate their assets to pay their nursing home and other bills.

The SNTC is the only non-profit organisation set up to provide trust services for persons with disabilities. It is supported by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

Ms Tan expects the number of such cases to rise, given the growing awareness by the public and those in the social service sector about the Professional Deputies and Donees scheme.

Under the scheme launched by the MSF's Office of Public Guardian in 2018, a person who is mentally sound can hire a professional donee to make decisions on his behalf should he lose mental capacity, for example, through dementia.

The appointment is formalised through a legal document called the Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA).

If an LPA is not done before the person loses his mental capacity, the courts can appoint a professional deputy to make decisions on his behalf. A professional donee can also act as a professional deputy.

Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital (KWSH), a charity that runs two nursing homes among other centres, has found professional deputies for four patients, who are all single, since it started doing so in 2023.