The Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) has announced plans to nearly double the number of eldercare centers in Singapore from 119 to 220 by 2025. This announcement comes amidst reports about Singapore’s ageing population, where it is noted that there will be an increase in the number of aged sick patients that need to be looked after. Therefore, the increase in the number of eldercare centers, and a beefed-up pool of community care providers, is expected to help ease the pressure from acute hospitals and nursing homes.
Eldercare Centers currently function as go-to points for seniors in between their visits to GPs and Polyclinics once every few months for their chronic conditions, providing services such as active ageing programs and health-related activities. However, as part of MOH’s expansion, the centers will also work with grassroots organizations and General Practitioners (GPs) to address additional seniors’ health and social needs, such as the monitoring of vitals and simple health screenings, and are expected to be responsible for 1,000 to 4,000 seniors each.
Additionally, MOH also announced plans to nearly double the number of nursing home beds to over 31,000 within the next 10 years and build up staff’s skills to improve end-of-life care for nursing home patients. This includes committing over USD 200 million to raise the pay of community care organization workers, investing in workforce skill development, transforming existing roles through job redesign for non-clinical manpower, and digitalization to increase productivity and value of the jobs and improvement of the sector’s Covid-19 readiness.
(Source: Straits Times)
