Nursing Home

6 more nursing homes in 5 years By Sharon See | Posted: 18 December 2010 1252 hrs SINGAPORE : The Health Ministry will spend up to S$120 million to build six nursing homes in  the heartlands by 2015. One of them, Ren Ci Nursing Home, will move from its present site Jalan Tan Tock Seng to  Bukit Batok. Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan announced the expanded programme at the Singapore  Christian Home for the Aged, which will also move near an HDB town. At its current location in Jalan Tan Tock Seng, the facilities at Singapore Christian Home for  the Aged are modest for a nursing home. But its new site at Sembawang Crescent promises better facilities and more than three times  the current bed capacity - from 75 to 248. Paul Tan, president of the Singapore Christian Home for the Aged, added: "We have our in- house therapist; we hope to have a training centre to train the houseman or all the caregivers  on how to take care of old folks at home too." The nursing home is one of the six nursing homes that will be in the heartlands. Two of them will be built in Buangkok and Jurong West. An earlier announcement had mentioned that Bright Hill Evergreen will be relocated to Punggol, while Villa Francis will move to Yishun. During his tour, Mr Khaw explained that the difference between nursing homes and those for  the aged is that the aim of nursing homes is to help improve patients' health so that their  patients can go home. He said: "An elderly home is just a baby-sitter service, where unskilled workers just watch  over the residents. But a nursing home is just a less intensive form of a hospital, so there  must be properly skilled people, making sure that patients improve in their health outcome." That is why the ministry is setting up an expert panel to see how facilities at nursing homes  can be improved and better equipped to provide rehabilitative care. The panel will be chaired by Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Senior Consultant Geriatrician Associate  Professor Chin Jing Jih. It will consist of local and foreign experts, including those from Australia  and Hong Kong. Mr Khaw said his ministry is also looking into reducing the over-reliance on foreign workers in  nursing homes and getting more locals to join the sector. At the Singapore Christian Home for the Aged, about 90 per cent of its 35 staff are foreigners.  Of these, only five per cent are skilled workers. But that too could change with the move. Mr Khaw said: "The activities in nursing homes are less urgent, less emergency in nature,  less acute in nature; there is therefore a lot of scope for part-time work. And I think that is why  when we re-site the building, the nursing homes into the HDB towns, one added advantage is it  then provides opportunities for, for example, retired workers, or housewives, who may just want  to keep themselves active." He added that wages would have to go up to attract more locals. This could mean the cost of  delivering nursing home care would also increase. However, Mr Khaw said patients would be  getting better service. Mr Khaw said moving nursing homes to the heartlands would also enable patients to be closer  to their family, making visits more convenient. MP for Sembawang GRC, Dr Lim Wee Kiak, said a dialogue session was held for residents of  the three blocks of HDB flats closest to the new site for the Singapore Christian Home for the Aged.  He said residents raised several concerns, which authorities took into consideration. These include  whether the new building would block their view, or if there are enough carpark spaces. The Health Ministry also said it is hoping to increase the bed capacity at the 63 nursing homes in  Singapore by more than 50 per cent to 14,000 over the next five years.  The current total bed capacity at nursing homes is 9,300. Comments: I think that Singaporeans nowadays are too obsess with earning money and having  a good life so much that they do not remember much about family time or they tend to neglect it.  As Singapore's standard of living is high, with education or job, it is very hard to have a good life.  Therefore, now everything in Singapore is education, money, job, more money, higher position  and higher qualification. Therefore, because of all this, people tend to spend less family time taking care of their older parents that are sick. They would usually send them to the nursing home since  the workers will take care of their parents. However, putting in the shoes of these  old parents,  they usually do not want to be a burden to their children. However, which parent do not want to be  with their family especially when they are old. Their wish would be to spend family time, watch their  children and grandchildren grow up.  Having more nursing homes in Singapore will only make more people who do not cherish family  values to send their family members there to stay and what's more is that now the government is  going to provide better facilities and care for them. To them, they do not mind paying a little more  just to get the burden off in a way. It is true that moving these nursing homes to heartland places  will be more convenient for family members to visit them, but how often will they visit even though  it is nearer? People will still be busy with their daily lives and  only visit during weekends, which  makes not much of a difference. If the activities in nursing homes are less urgent, less emergency  in nature, less acute in nature, why can't family members spend some time just bringing their parents  or sick to the hospital for routine check ups, instead of leaving them at the nursing home.  One reason may be no one is at home to take care of them which is valid. Another may be that maids are not so trust-able, therefore they have no choice. Of course every family has their reason. But i personally feel that the government should enforce the importance of family time and provide few solutions to encourage people to spend more family time. Clement Juan