Current Capacities and Utilisation Rates of Long-term Care Services and Plans to Allocate More Resources to Nursing Homes due to Ageing Population

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Minister for Health (a) whether he can provide an update on the respective current capacities and utilisation rates of long-term care services, such as nursing homes, centre-based care and home-based care; and (b) whether the Ministry assesses the need for more resources to be allocated to nursing homes in particular, given the expected demand due to our ageing population.

As at end-2020, there were approximately 16,300 nursing home beds, 8,200 day care places and 10,000 home care places. The utilisation rates for these long-term care services were about 90%, 52% and 57% respectively.

There is, currently, sufficient capacity for these long-term care services to support the needs of our population. We monitor capacity and utilisation rates regularly and adjust capacity plans accordingly to address changing care needs.