SINGAPORE: The
government will spend more than S$500 million over the next five years
to build more eldercare facilities to support the needs of an increasing
ageing population.
Sites to build 10 nursing homes, 21 Senior
Care Centres (SCCs), and 45 Senior Activity Centres (SACs) by 2016 were
revealed on Friday in a joint release by the Health Ministry and the
Ministry for Community Development, Youth and Sports.
The Health
Ministry said it's important to plan ahead for aged care facilities to
serve every neighbourhood, in the same way that childcare, community
centres and other amenities to support the population's needs.
Mr Tan Tau Tin takes five minutes to walk from his home to visit his mother at the Man Fut Tong Nursing Home in Woodlands.
The
close proximity allows him to visit his mother daily and he said having
a nursing home is very important to elderly residents like himself who
needs it.
Like Mr Tan, more Singaporeans will also benefit from having more eldercare facilities in their neighbourhood.
Minister
for Health Gan Kim Yong said: "Our goal is to eventually make every
neighbourhood a senior friendly neighbourhood, by having aged care
facilities that can provide accessible care to seniors living all over
the island. Many of these seniors are our pioneers, our parents and our
grandparents. We too will age. So this investment in aged care
facilities is for Singapore and for our future."
A population
trend report showed that the proportion of elderly aged 65 years and
over was generally higher among Singapore residents staying in older
estates.
And so the new nursing homes will be in areas such as
Yishun, Jurong West, Geylang, Hougang and Queenstown which will also
have senior activity and senior care centres.
The 10 nursing homes will add an estimated 3,300 beds to Singapore's existing nursing home capacity of 9,000.
The
government hopes that by locating the nursing homes within the
community, it would make it more convenient for families to visit
seniors in these nursing homes. It will also help to better complement
the range of healthcare services within the community such as hospitals,
clinics and day rehabilitation centres.
Mr Gan said: "We do
understand that residents have some concerns and some of the concerns
once we explain to them, they would accept it. We re-designed some of
our original concept so as to cater to their needs and strike a balance
between the interests of residents as well as interest of the seniors."
Mr
Gan added that the Health Ministry will work closely with the MPs and
grassroots leaders to engage residents on how the facilities can be
designed to serve the community in the coming months.
He said:
"We hope that residents who are living near these facilities will
understand the need for these facilities to be built and will support
our efforts and plans.
"And we will engage them, share with them
the need for these facilities. We'll also be very happy to get input
from them how we can design facilities better so we can serve the
community in more ways than one.
The new Senior Care Centres will
be located in Bedok, Bukit Batok, Bukit Merah, Geylang, Hougang, Jurong
West, Kallang, Pasir Ris, Punggol, Queenstown, Sengkang, Serangoon,
Tampines, Toa Payoh, Woodlands, Yishun.
Senior Care Centres will provide day care, dementia day care, day rehabilitation services and basic nursing services.
Forty-five
Senior Activity Centres will be set up in Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Bukit
Batok, Bukit Merah, Bukit Panjang, Bukit Timah, Choa Chu Kang, Geylang,
Hougang, Jurong West, Kallang, Pasir Ris, Punggol, Queenstown, Sengkang,
Novena, Tampines, Toa Payoh, Woodlands and Yishun.
Seniors can visit these centres to engage in regular social activities.
SACs
will largely be sited at rental blocks or studio apartments and will be
operated by Voluntary Welfare Organisations or commercial operators.
SINGAPORE: There are
mixed reactions from residents in response to the Health Ministry's
plan to proceed with building a nursing home, the Lions Home for the
Elders, in a Bishan housing estate.
Some residents had earlier expressed concerns that the home would block their view and cause traffic congestion.
MP
for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC Mr Wong Kan Seng said he and his grassroots
leaders have worked with the Health Ministry to study how the concerns
of residents can be mitigated.
The decision has been made to
build the nursing home on a plot of land at Bishan Street 13, after an
earlier dialogue was held with Bishan East residents on May 27.
Reactions to the announcement to proceed with the construction have been mixed.
N.
Sethuranman, a Bishan resident who has stayed in the area for about 20
years, said: "We thought they would revert the decision, and go for a
better place - closer to the MRT or something."
Ronnie Ho,
another Bishan resident, echoed similar sentiments. He said: "We are
already very congested in this area, so why are we now building a
building, putting it right in the middle of three blocks of flats? We'll
just increase the flow of traffic (in the area)."
Faraaz, who
has stayed in Bishan for 15 years, said: "Residents have mentioned that
the view is going to be obstructed and (the authorities) have responded
appropriately. They've said they'll build green spaces and make it
accessible to the public. It's not going to be just a hospice, I think
that's a misconception many people have."
"Right now, what we
should do is that since the thing has been decided, let's embrace it and
make it better. We had a dialogue and they spoke to us, and they've
given us good suggestions like how to make it benefit the residents
around here," said Charles Yee.
In a written response to Channel
NewsAsia, MP for the area Wong Kan Seng said he supports the plans to
build the nursing home. He said with a fast ageing population, the
demand for nursing homes is expected.
In response to alternative
sites raised by residents, the Health Ministry said it has since worked
with other planning agencies, such as the URA and HDB, to study these
sites.
But in land scarce Singapore - the green field sites have
already been designated for future development to meet critical needs,
such as housing and education, and the shifting of the nursing home to
other sites will in turn displace these uses.
To address some of
the concerns raised by residents, MOH has agreed to cap the building at
six storeys. It will also incorporate design features to screen off
direct views of the wards and provide greenery to the rooftop and ground
floors.
MOH said it will also ensure there are enough car
parking facilities in the area. It also plans to keep residents updated
on developments and continue to engage the residents about the actual
design of the nursing home.
MOH has added that it intends to build more eldercare services in HDB housing estates in the next five years.
SINGAPORE: 16,000
public healthcare administrative, ancillary and support staff will see a
salary increase of between four and 10 per cent from September.
This comes after a review of healthcare staff salaries by the Health Ministry and the healthcare clusters.
By 2014, 2,000 of these staff can expect a wage increase of between 10 and 20 per cent through a progressive wage model.
The
model has been developed to help lower wage workers attain sustainable
wage increases through productivity, training and job redesign.
It will focus on three key groups -- health attendants, healthcare assistants and patient service associates.
These announcements were made at the launch of the Healthcare Cluster Tripartite Workgroup.
The tripartite partners comprise the Health Ministry, six public healthcare clusters and NTUC's healthcare clusters of unions.
Mr
Wong Koon Khian, who is working as a health attendant under the Central
Sterile Supply Department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, is one of those
who will benefit from the salary review.
"I'm very happy my hard work has paid off," said Mr Wong.
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said public healthcare support staff, like Mr Wong, plays a crucial role.
Mr
Gan said: "From registration, to catering, preparation of the operating
theatre, appointment booking and providing corporate services… the
rising expectation for public healthcare services means that the work of
our administrative, ancillary and support staff has become more
demanding and more complex."
A progressive wage model has also
been developed by the workgroup to increase the salaries of lower-wage
workers in two years' time by 10 per cent to 20 per cent.
The model will focus on three main groups - Health Attendants, Healthcare Assistants and Patient Service Associates.
Healthcare
Cluster Tripartite Workgroup's co-chairman Patrick Tay, said: "These
three groups of workers are generally earning less than S$1,700. I think
there's quite a sizable group of them and we are setting our sights on
impacting these groups and not just in one or two hospitals but across
the entire healthcare clusters.
Mr Tay said these workers can
expect better pay through initiatives that include the greater use of
assistive devices and job redesign.
For example, Mr Wong himself
broadened his job scope of just manual duties by undergoing training in a
sterilisation course in 2008. He was re-designated as a Central Sterile
Supply Department Assistant with a salary range of S$1,000 to S$2,000.
The workgroup hopes that these initiatives will encourage more to join the healthcare sector.
A total of 35,000 workers are expected to be hired in the next eight years.
