Care Workers in Aged Care

NOTICE PAPER NO. 57 OF 2012

NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 17 FEBRUARY 2012

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Chen Show Mao

MP for Aljunied GRC

Question No. 122

To ask the Minister for Health whether there are regulations and standards that apply to, and approved training and development programmes for, care workers in aged care for (i) nursing homes (ii) senior activity centres (iii) day social and rehabilitative care centres (iv) home-based healthcare services and (v) home-based social care services.

Answer

1                   There are guidelines and regulations as well as training and development programmes in place for registered healthcare professionals in the aged care sector.

2                   In terms of regulations, doctors and nurses who work in nursing homes or provide community-based or home-based healthcare services must go through the requisite training and meet the licensing requirements as set out under the Medical Registration Act or the Nurses and Midwives Act, as the case may be. Only graduates of training programmes which are accepted by the various professional licensing Boards such as the Singapore Medical Council and Singapore Nursing Board qualify to practise in Singapore. Foreign healthcare professionals also need to possess the requisite qualifications and training set by the respective professional licensing Boards in order to practise here. There are also guidelines on standards and manpower qualifications for the social care sector.

3                   In addition, there are ongoing efforts to upgrade the skills of aged care staff. Support staff such as healthcare assistants or therapy aides can undergo training and development through Singapore Workforce Development Agency’s (WDA) Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) Course in Healthcare Support or Therapy Services. Aged care staff can also attend courses such as the ITE Skills Certificate in Healthcare (Home Care), qualifications in Senior Services via the WSQ training framework, and courses offered by the Social Service Training Institute (SSTI).

4                   Since 2002, MOH has invested in building up the capability of intermediate and long-term care (ILTC) staff through the Healthcare Manpower Development Programme (HMDP-ILTC), which is aimed at helping the sector build up advanced skills in elderly and continuing care. Over the last five years, we have awarded 350 people the HMDP-ILTC Fellowship. In addition, the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) has established a Learning Institute (LI) in 2010 to facilitate capability building in the sector by organising skills training for ILTC staff. To date, the AIC LI has facilitated 130 runs of courses providing more than 5,000 training places.

5                   Beyond upgrading the skills of aged care staff, there are also initiatives to improve the quality of the aged care sector. Since August 2010, AIC has collaborated with three community hospitals and 20 nursing homes on quality improvement initiatives in areas such as continence care, multi-dose medication and hand hygiene to ensure better quality of care for the patients and residents.

6                   Nevertheless, there is still room to further improve care standards. The government agencies will continue to study ways to enhance our guidelines and regulatory standards, as well as to work with care providers to better train and develop staff.