A GOVERNMENT programme to screen elderly folk for mental illnesses in the community rather than in hospitals is being ramped up even as a pilot project found that home-based treatment led to a marked dip in hospital admissions.

With Singapore short of healthcare workers to do early screenings, charity workers and grassroots leaders are being trained to do the first round of checks.

Since April, doctors from the Institute of Mental Health and Changi General Hospital have trained over 600 workers from voluntary welfare organisations on how to spot early signs of dementia, depression or other psychological illnesses.