Speech by Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Health, at the official opening of Ren Ci Nursing Home at Bukit Batok St 52, 22 Jan 2016

Ms Low Yen Ling, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Trade and Industry and Adviser to Grassroots Organisations in Bukit Gombak

Mr Chua Thian Poh, Chairman, Ren Ci Hospital

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning. I am delighted to join you here this morning. Two years ago, I was here also to witness the topping out ceremony.  Today, I am happy to be back here again for the official opening of this Home. This Ren Ci Nursing Home at Bukit Batok is now fully operational after commencing operations early last year. It provides both nursing home care as well as day care services to support seniors living in Bukit Gombak and Bukit Batok and beyond.

2.           Ren Ci Nursing Home at Bukit Batok is part of MOH’s continued efforts to bring aged care services closer to the community so that seniors will get the care they need, when they need it, and closer to their own homes. MOH is also keen to partner with operators to try out innovative services and models. We will continue work on three fronts – making care more accessible, tightening baseline care standards, and encouraging innovations.

Making Care More Accessible

3.           Under the Healthcare 2020 Masterplan, MOH have planned for the expansion of aged care capacity to meet the needs of our future ageing population. Today, we have a capacity of more than 12,000 nursing home beds, up from around 9,000 nursing home beds in 2011. We plan to increase the national capacity to 17,000 nursing home beds by 2020. To improve the affordability of these care services, MOH has enhanced Intermediate and Long-Term Care (ILTC) subsidies in 2012, and introduced drug subsidies to seniors accessing nursing home and home based care services, last year.

Improving Quality of Care

4.           Even as we expand the capacity of our aged care services, we are making efforts to innovate and improve the quality of aged care, so that our seniors can be better cared for.

5.           We do so in a few ways. First, we want to enrich and expand the suite of aged care services, and make care more person-centric and seamless. In tandem with the expansion of nursing home services, MOH is also investing in home and community care services. As far as possible, we encourage the integration of related services, such as integrating day centres within nursing homes or day care with home-based care services. Through integration of services, we hope to support patients in a more seamless manner.  

6.           In the community, we are starting new services to facilitate ageing-in-place. These include respite care, befriending programmes and community case management to meet the needs of seniors as well as their caregivers.

7.            Second, MOH would like to work closer with the aged care sector, to work towards better quality of care.  It is with this in mind that we launched the Enhanced Nursing Home Standards (ENHS) in January 2014. The enhanced standards give us a platform to work with nursing home providers to raise the quality of care across the sector.  I am encouraged to learn that the sector has responded positively in support of the enhanced standards.  Over 90% of nursing homes have worked with the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) to review their work processes in preparation for the enforcement of these standards come April this year.

8.           Since January last year, AIC has partnered nursing homes with various Regional Health Systems (RHS), under which the RHSes provide training to care staff in various homes on aspects of clinical care prescribed under the Enhanced Standards.  AIC’s Learning Institute has also conducted over 500 runs of ENHS-related courses since 2014. I am happy to note that Ren Ci as well as many nursing homes have participated actively in AIC’s voluntary audits of their care systems and in various training programmes.

9.           Technology is a key enabler of quality care. With the use of technology, nursing home staff can spend less time on administrative work, and more time to care for our seniors. MOH launched the Nursing Home Information Technology Enablement Programme (NHELP) in 2014 to develop a system to help nursing homes better manage their operations. With this system, residents’ clinical data can now be stored centrally, and be accessed and updated by care staff on a real-time basis.  NHELP was piloted successfully in Singapore Christian Home and Ren Ci is one of the first nursing homes to come on board NHELP.

Pioneering New Care Models

10.       Third, MOH wants to continually innovate new care models that can help us better care for seniors.

11.       Under the Action Plan for Successful Ageing, a National Innovation Challenge has been set up, to provide grants for innovations in active ageing and aged care. Last year, MOH launched two grant calls. The first was for new ideas in the delivery of home based care, and the second looked for innovative preventive programmes to delay the onset of dementia, and new models of dementia care in the community. Together, both grant calls attracted close to 100 proposals from multi-disciplinary research teams that comprise care providers and technology solution providers.

12.       We also applaud and support bottom-up ideas for innovating new models of care. The Government introduced the Community Silver Trust Fund (CST) in 2011 to provide a dollar-for-dollar matching grant to encourage greater charitable giving in the aged care sector.  To date, the Community Silver Trust has provided $15.7m to Ren Ci in support of its capability development.

13.       One example of a good ground-up effort is Ren Ci’s approach towards dementia care. It has adopted a person-centred approach in a dedicated ward within this facility. Under this approach, the care for each dementia resident is customized according to his or her unique personality, ability and interests. Residents are encouraged to remain independent and perform daily activities, such as preparing breakfast, doing simple chores or even baking, on their own. This approach has helped residents feel valued, useful and engaged, and slowed the decline in their cognitive functions.

14.       Ren Ci is also piloting a new Nursing Home Discharge Programme. Under this programme, Ren Ci not only provides nursing care but also psycho-social care and rehabilitation services. Their aim is to enable residents to live independently in the community again. Ren Ci works with social agencies and other community organisations to put in place a network of care, which includes befriending and home care services, to support residents when they return home.

15.       Mr Sa’ad Bin Sudi is one such success story.  Mr Sa’ad was admitted into a Ren Ci facility in 2013 following a spinal injury that made it difficult for him to stand and to walk. However, he wanted very much to return home. Ren Ci’s care team not only worked on improving his functional abilities, but also assisted Mr Sa’ad to map out a “going home plan” involving small but realistic steps. To fulfil Mr Sa’ad’s wish, the care team even worked with various agencies to get him a rental flat with wheelchair access and secured financial assistance for him. Thanks to the many helping hands, Mr Sa’ad was discharged from Ren Ci at Bukit Batok last June. I am told that Mr Sa’ad is currently back in his own home and enjoying every minute of his independence.

16.       I am glad that Ren Ci will continue its care innovation as it expands its operations to a new nursing home in Ang Mo Kio in 2017.  MOH has worked with Ren Ci to pilot a new “Short-Stay Unit” within this new Home. In the design of this Home, we have applied some of the concepts we saw in facilities in Japan. For example, this new Home will be designed with a cluster concept i.e. each cluster will comprise a few beds and share a common activity space. We observed from the Japanese that such a cluster concept with decentralised lounges and dining areas helped to promote social interaction as well as a more home-like environment for the residents. Within the Short Stay Unit, residents are encouraged to continue active rehab and attempt activities of daily living, so that they can regain their function and more importantly, gain confidence to transit back home. Like the Japanese, we will also incorporate more outdoor areas in our new facilities where seniors can go for walks safely and enjoy the greenery within the compound.

Engaging the Community

17.       This Home we see today is the fruit of labour of the Ren Ci team, as well as the whole community here at Bukit Gombak. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms Low Yen Ling, Adviser to Grassroots Organisations in Bukit Gombak and her grassroots leaders for their support and guidance. This facility would not have been possible without them.

18.       I am happy and proud to see that this Ren Ci home has become a member of the big Bukit Gombak family. With the support of Advisor and the grassroots leaders, Ren Ci has introduced new programmes to cater to residents in the area. For example, Ren Ci is one of the first nursing homes to make available its gym, which has been converted to a “Keep Fit Centre”, for residents to use after office hours and on weekends. Working together, Bukit Gombak has shown that nursing homes can become an asset for the community, in more ways than one.

Conclusion

19.       This new home marks yet another significant milestone in Ren Ci’s 21 years of service and commitment towards the care of our seniors. Ren Ci’s unwavering dedication to the ILTC sector is commendable.

20.       I would like to congratulate the board and employees of Ren Ci on the official opening of Ren Ci Nursing Home at Bukit Batok today. I wish the Home every success. My ministry and I look forward to the continuing partnership with Ren Ci to deliver quality care in the years to come.

21.       Thank you.