NURSING HOMES IN SINGAPORE

NURSING HOMES IN SINGAPORE:

(Quality and standards): 7.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Health (a) what is the average

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waiting time for a place in a subsidised nursing home; (b) how many percent of the current cohort of elderly will need nursing home care in the future; (c) whether there are plans to improve the quality and standards of care provided in the nursing homes in Singapore; and (d) whether the Government would consider expediting the building of new nursing homes which was announced recently.

* *The Minister for Health (Mr Khaw Boon Wan): The waiting time for a subsidised nursing home bed is, on average, 49 days. Currently, 2% of our elderly population above 65 years requires nursing home care. The figure may grow in the future but we must try to keep it low as all seniors prefer to age at home, rather than in an institution.

It is our priority to raise the standard of care in nursing homes. We have discussed these plans before in this House. Last month, we have also set up an Expert Panel on nursing homes to improve the rehabilitative capabilities of nursing homes so that patients can benefit from effective rehabilitation and be able to return home eventually. The Expert Panel will be advising the Ministry of Health on how we should go about achieving this objective.

Meanwhile, we have started building six new nursing homes. They are at different stages of planning and construction. Three of them should be ready by early 2013. Of the three, two are in the west.

Mdm Halimah Yacob (Jurong): Sir, the two key concerns of Singaporeans taking care of the sick elderly parents are, of course, the affordability of nursing home care and access, meaning securing a place as quickly as possible after the need arises. The Minister mentioned that the average waiting time is "49 days".

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Unfortunately, anecdotally on the ground, for the different cases I have handled, the time period seems to be longer for a subsidised place in the nursing home. That is the reason I asked that question. We have six nursing homes being built. The question to ask is: what are some of the more immediate plans to ensure access? I am not quite sure why the average waiting time and the practices on the ground seem to differ? I do have actual cases with that.

The other issue which has not been posed to the Minister is affordability. Could the Minister also give a response to that point?

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Sir, "49 days" is an average figure but I suppose it varies from nursing home to nursing home. Some nursing homes are more popular than others and if some patients insisted on going to those nursing homes, the waiting time can be longer. It was reported in today's newspaper on Nanyang Kindergarten. There are kindergartens and there are kindergartens. Likewise, there are nursing homes and there are nursing homes. At my level, I look at it from the macro point of view and we try to make sure that the average figure is manageable. "49 days" is a bit long. My own personal target is: I would like to shave off 20 days, so that it is within a month. But let me explain that whether it is 29 or 49 days, it does not mean that the patients are not being served. What it means is usually, they are kept waiting in an expensive setting, which usually means in an acute hospital.

I have an interest to reduce the waiting time and we have been reducing it over time. Building more nursing homes will help but, at the same time, it is a balancing game. We also do not want to make nursing homes so accessible, so easily available that we encourage a

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different trend which is that children may be encouraged to refer their elderly to institutions which I think we do not want to see it happen. My personal view is if the waiting time is about a month, that will be a reasonable figure to target.

Affordability of healthcare is always an issue and is always my priority. We try to make sure that healthcare, whether it is at a nursing home or at the hospitals, is affordable. My own view is: they are affordable but provided we all cooperate in this. For example, our 3M system is very good but you must be in it. If you choose to be out of 3M, then I think it is troublesome. By that, what I mean is when you work, do save in your Medisave. For employees, no problem, but the self-employed must be encouraged to save. And when you have enough money in Medisave, then do buy insurance. In the case of nursing homes, ElderShield is important. ElderShield today is still rather basic and I would like to further enhance the ElderShield programme so that they can play a more effective role.

That is something that we would do in the next few years.

Dr Lam Pin Min (Ang Mo Kio): Mr Speaker, there is no doubt that with the rapidly ageing population, the demand for nursing homes and step down care will increase. However, I would like to caution that we should not send the wrong message to Singaporeans that sending the elderly sick parents to a nursing home is a desired choice. Therefore, I would like to ask the Minister if homecare services are being looked into, and whether MOH should consider homecare as the first option before granting places in nursing homes.

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: The answer is "yes". I totally agree with the approach as proposed by Dr Lam Pin Min. All surveys, whether in Singapore or outside Singapore, point in the same direction. All seniors do want to age at home. Our job

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is to try to facilitate that. Homecare is something that I have been looking at for the last couple of years. I think Members will hear a lot more about these during the next few years.