Review guidelines of nursing homes

22 May 2007

Question No:  202  

Question

Name of the Person: Dr Fatimah Abdul Lateef, MP for Marine Parade GRC

To ask the Minister for Health whether there are plans to review the guidelines and standards of nursing homes from both the private and government sectors including areas such as employment of staff with different skills grade, patient to staff ratio and training requirements such as training in dementia care, in order to come up with a set of criteria which can be applied to all nursing homes.

Reply

Reply From MOH

Nursing homes are regulated under the Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics Act. The Act stipulates the minimum standards required of these nursing homes.  These include the minimum qualifications of staff and the staff to patient ratios.

For instance, we require all nursing homes to be supervised by registered nurses at all times. While a resident doctor is not a requirement, nursing homes must ensure that its patients receive prompt and appropriate medical care when needed.

We also specify the minimum staff to patient ratios, based on the nursing care needs of the patients. This may be 1 care staff to 8 patients for those with lower care needs or 1 care staff to 2 patients for those with greater needs. 

All nurses are regulated by the Singapore Nursing Board and they are encouraged to participate in continuing education to maintain and upgrade their professional competencies. Besides meeting the minimum staff to patient ratio, nursing homes must also ensure that their care staff have the necessary skills and knowledge to serve the types of patients admitted.

Our key considerations are patient safety and quality of nursing care. The objective is to allow nursing homes to provide optimal care in a cost-effective manner.

We will continue to review all regulations and guidelines to ensure that they remain relevant.