Minimum Standards for Providers of Home-based and Centre-based Services for Elderly Care

Dr Chia Shi-Lu asked the Minister for Health what measures will be implemented to ensure that (i) providers of home-based and centre-based services for elderly care meet minimum standards of quality, (ii) professionals and staff are adequately trained and certified and (iii) this employment sector has a strong Singaporean Core.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) takes a developmental approach to ensure the provision of good quality home- and centre-based care services. In 2015, MOH, in consultation with the sector, introduced developmental service guidelines for home- and centre-based care providers covering areas, such as care delivery, staff training and staff qualifications. Separately, healthcare professionals in the sector, such as doctors, nurses and therapists, are subject to licensing by their respective professional bodies, and are held to strict professional standards in areas, such as code of conduct, practice standards and competencies. Eldercare centres receiving MOH funding are also required to pass service audits.

To continually raise standards and improve quality of care, the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) conducts regular capability-building programmes in areas, such as infection control and medication management, and holds sector forums to regularly share good practices. AIC also provides funding support to providers for staff development.

MOH will review the need for more formal regulation, including licensing under the upcoming Healthcare Services Act. The Act is scheduled to be rolled out in 2020. As the sector is still nascent and evolving, we will adopt a risk-based approach and subject services with higher patient risks to higher levels of regulation, so as not to add excessive regulatory burden to providers, which could consequently raise the cost of care for seniors.

We recognise the importance of building a strong Singaporean Core to support the growth of home- and centre-based services. In fact, locals comprise more than seven out of 10 of the workforce in the sector as at end 2017. MOH has provided funding to providers to raise salaries, and this had led to an increase in local staff salaries by around 30% across providers which tapped on our funding support from 2012 to 2017. We agree that better recognition of the importance of care workers will help to encourage more Singaporeans to step forward to join this sector, and we will continue our efforts to reach out to the society at large.