Current Capacities and Utilisation Rates of Long-Term Care Services and Plans to Allocate More Resources to Nursing Homes due to Ageing Population

NOTICE PAPER NO. 890
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR WRITTEN ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 10 JANUARY 2022

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye
MP for Radin Mas

Question No. 1409

To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether he can provide an update on the respective current capacities and utilisation rates of long-term care services, such as nursing homes, centre-based care and home-based care; and (b) whether the Ministry assesses the need for more resources to be allocated to nursing homes in particular, given the expected demand due to our ageing population.

Written Answer

As at end-2020, there were approximately 16,300 nursing home beds, 8,200 day care places and 10,000 home care places. The utilisation rates for these long-term care services were about 90%, 52% and 57% respectively.

There is currently sufficient capacity for these long-term care services to support the needs of our population. We monitor capacity and utilisation rates regularly and adjust capacity plans accordingly to address changing care needs.