COVID-19 and the Long-Term Care system in Singapore

Structural characteristics of the LTC system, impact of the pandemic, measures adopted and new reforms

This country profile brings together information on the experience of the long-term care sector (focussing on people who use and provide care) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore from a living international report on COVID-19 Long-Term Care. It also provides links to research projects on COVID-19 and long-term care, to key reports, and lists key experts on the impacts of COVID-19 on the long-term care sector in Singapore.

Experts on COVID-19 and long-term care in Singapore that have contributed to this report:

Kai Leichsingering, Andrea Schmidt

Living report: COVID-19 and the Long-Term Care system in Singapore

PART 1 – Long-Term Care System characteristics and preparedness
  • 1.00. Brief overview of the Long-Term Care system
    Singapore’s approach to Long-Term Care (LTC) focuses on integrated care and active care management and coordination, aiming to reduce unnecessary utilization of institutional care. The approach is nested with an overarching Action Plan for Successful Ageing, as part of a policy shift towards a population health approach. Singapore’s LTC policies are based on the principle of ‘Many helping hands’ that calls for individuals, families, communities, civil society, the private sector, and government to all play a role in ensuring the wellbeing of older people. The system is designed with the aims of maximising prevention, promoting individual and family responsibility and reduce inefficiencies, with LTC as part of a wider integrated system covering public health, primary care, acute care, rehabilitation and long-term and palliative care. Sources: Asian Development Bank (2021) Singapore’s Long-Term Care System. Adapting to Population Ageing.
  • 1.01. Population size and ageing context

    In 2021 there are 5.4 million people living in Singapore, of whom 3.9 million are residents (comprising 3.5 million Singapore citizens and 488,700 permanent residents).

    Singapore’s population is ageing rapidly, in the population aged 65 and over was 639,000 (15.9%) out of its 4 million resident population. This is expected to rise to 23.8% of the population of residents by 2030.

    Sources: Department of Statistics Singapore

  • 1.02. Long-Term Care system governance

    The Ministry of Health is responsible for governance over the entirety of the health and LTC systems, including setting policy direction, projection of national-level service demand, health and LTC financing, regulatory frameworks, standards, oversight, and coordination of related bodies. There is an Ageing planning Office with responsibility for setting policy direction and implementation for successful ageing across sectors.

    In 2018 the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) was created, within the Ministry of Health, with responsibility for coordinating the delivery of Long-Term Care, enhancing service development and building capacity across health and social care. The AIC is responsible for integrating and coordinating health and care services, case assessment framework and case finding, monitoring and evaluation, case management, referral services, strengthening primary care and community care services and quality of services.

    Sources:

    Asian Development Bank (2021) Leadership and Governance in Long-Term Care Systems in Asia and the Pacific. ADB Brief. http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/BRF210448-2

    Asian Development Bank (2020) Singapore’s Long-Term Care system. Adapting to population aging. ADB.

  • 1.03. Long-term care financing arrangements and coverage

    Nursing homes in Singapore fall into three categories: public (~31%), private (~40%) and charitable/ not-for-profit (NFP) (~29%). There are a total of 77 nursing homes and 16,221 beds. Substantial government subsidies and donor funding financially assist most of the public and NFP homes, but they also require co-payment from clients. The Ministry of Health subsidy scheme does not cover private nursing homes, for which direct out-of-pocket expenses must be covered by clients (Udod et al., 2021).

    Financing for LTC and support to older adults exists within an overall health-care financing that, in turn, is linked to the way in which social care and pension funding is organized. There are three complementary insurance schemes for disability cover: ElderShield and ElderShield Plus, and CareShield. ElderShield is a severe disability insurance scheme under which all citizens and permanent residents born before 1979 who have a MediSave account are automatically covered from 40 years of age (opt-out is possible). To be eligible for the scheme, individuals must be unable to carry out at least three out of six basic activities of daily living. ElderShield Plus offers higher monthly payouts or payouts for a longer period or a combination of both. CareShield Life is a compulsory insurance policy introduced in 2020 that provides payouts for people who are severely disabled. Everyone born between 1980 and 1990 is enrolled automatically and younger cohorts will be enrolled as they turn 30. Another funding scheme introduced in 2020, ElderFund, provides financial support for low income, severely disabled Singaporeans. Additional subsidies and schemes exist to finance LTC. Some schemes focus on financial support to informal caregivers and home-based care (source: Asian Development Bank).

  • 1.04. Approach to care provision, including sector of ownership

    LTC in the community is mostly provided informally by family and surrogate carers. Formal community services (e.g. day care) and residential care are largely provided through Voluntary Welfare Organisations or Social Service Agencies. In 2019, Singapore had 7,600 day care places, 10,300 home care places, 1,986 community hospital beds and 16,059 nursing home beds. Of the available nursing home beds, 75% were supplied through the Social Service Agencies and the government and 25% through private providers (source: https://ltccovid.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/The-COVID-19-Long-Term-Care-situation-in-Singapore-27July-2020.pdf).

  • 1.06. Care coordination

    Care integration is high on the policy agenda in Singapore. For example, to facilitate integrated delivery of support and services, Singapore has consolidated aging, health, and LTC under the Ministry of Health (MOH) with inter-ministerial remits, where relevant.

    The Agency for Integrated Care has taken on the role of a National Care Integrator since 2009. It is the agency’s role to match people with LTC needs with available services. The agency further is ‘responsible for supporting community care service partners in manpower development, quality improvement, programme development, and crisis management’.

    In 2012, a Regional Health System model was introduced by the Ministry of Health to support the provision of ‘seamless integrated care based on geographic location’. This model facilitates local collaboration and transitions between care settings and has been reported to strengthen management capabilities and continuity of care. Key actors are designated anchor public acute hospitals as well as ‘primary, chronic health and social care’ services in the different geographic areas.

  • 1.08. Care home infrastructure

    Singapore relies heavily on community-based care, however older adults who cannot receive care appropriate for their needs at home are able to seek accommodation in a Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCFs). Singapore has over 16,000 LTCF places as of 2019 of which 40% are run by the government, 37% by non-profit organisations and 23% by the private sector (Irving and Bloom, 2020).

    Public and non-profit run long term care facilities in Singapore are particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases due to their infrastructure: most facilities resemble dormitory-style housing shared by  between roughly 6 and 12 residents living in close proximity, with communal facilities. There is more variation in the layout of private nursing homes: some have dormitory-style living conditions that have as many as 30 residents; others have single or double private rooms. Most public and non-profit LTCFs have substantial subsidies from the government (Goh et al., 2022).

    References:

    Goh, H.S.; Tan, V.; Lee, C.-N.; Zhang, H.; Devi, M.K. (2022) Nursing Home’s Measures during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Critical Reflection. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 19, 75. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010075

    Irving and Bloom (2020) COVID-19, Older Adults and Long-Term Care in the Asia Pacific. Report prepared for HelpAge International Asia Pacific. https://ageingasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/COVID_LTC_Report-Final-20-November-2020.pdf

  • 1.09. Community-based care infrastructure

    Singaporean LTC relies heavily on home-based and community care services and aims to reduce unnecessary utilization of institutional care (source: https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/637416/singapore-care-system-population-aging.pdf). In 2019, there were 7,600 day care places, 10,300 home care places and 1,986 community hospital beds in Singapore (source: Analysis of variable COVID-19 mortality among older people in Asia Pacific, by forms of long-term care (ageingasia.org).

    There are different types of day care services in Singapore. These include: ‘senior care centres, day rehabilitation centres, general and enhanced dementia day care and day hospices’. Home care services for bed-bound older people living in their own homes include ‘medical, nursing, therapy, personal care and hospice’ are. In addition, there are meals-on-wheels services and Medical Escort and Transport Services available. Community hospitals offer short-term (2-4 weeks) rehabilitative inpatient care for people who experienced acute medical care needs. It is their role to facilitate transition back into the community (source: https://ltccovid.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/The-COVID-19-Long-Term-Care-situation-in-Singapore-27July-2020.pdf).

  • 1.10. Workforce conditions: pay, employment conditions, qualification levels, shortages

    The country operates with shortages of workers in LTC sector, which poses challenges to staffing facilities (source: Responding to COVID-19 in Residential Care: The Singapore Experience – Resources to support community and institutional Long-Term Care responses to COVID-19 (ltccovid.org).

  • 1.14. Pandemic preparedness of the Long-term care sector

    Singapore took the threat of COVID-19 seriously early on and was able to draw on an already existing Disease Outbreak Response System framework, which had been refined based on the experiences from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) of 2003 and the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009 (Graham and Wong, 2020).

    Following the 2003 outbreak, the government established 900 rapid response public health preparedness clinics (PHPCs) across the country, ear-marked for improved response to pandemics and outbreaks. The PHPCs serve as an intermediary between the community and hospitals, screening all patients with flu-like or pneumonia symptoms into low-risk and high-risk groups. The high risk group is referred to an infectious disease hospital for further assessment and management (Kuguyo et al., 2020).

    Nursing homes in Singapore started to prepare for COVID-19 early. A case study of a large charitable nursing home’s measures shows that, as soon as news were reported from China, in January, the Nursing home’s Nursing Director and Infection Control Nurse started to work with staff to establish a command centre, setting up a screening counter, reviewing national pandemic guidelines and liaising with the Ministry of Health and the Agency for Integrated Care, and coordinating mask-fitting for all 400 staff (Goh et al., 2022)

    References:

    Goh, H.S.; Tan, V.; Lee, C.-N.; Zhang, H.; Devi, M.K. (2022) Nursing Home’s Measures during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Critical Reflection. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 19, 75. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010075

    Graham, WCK, Wong, CH. (2020) Responding to COVID-19 in Residential Care: The Singapore Experience. LTCcovid country report, International Long-Term Care Policy Network, CPEC-LSE, 27 July 2020.

    Kuguyo O., Kengne A.P., and Dandara C. (2020) Singapore COVID-19 Pandemic Response as a Successful Model Framework for Low-Resource Health Care Settings in Africa OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology.Aug 2020.470-478. https://doi.org/10.1089/omi.2020.0077

PART 2 – Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on people who use and provide Long Term Care
  • 2.02. Deaths attributed to COVID-19 among people using long-term care

    In August 2021 there had only been 42 COVID-19 related deaths in Singapore, with a small share of those in care homes. When there was a smaller number of deaths and individual reporting of cases, it was possible to identify deaths of people who lived in care homes. However, since Singapore pivoted to an endemic COVID-19 strategy, once a high (over 80%) vaccination rate had been achieved, the number of deaths has increased rapidly, with many outbreaks in care homes. No separate data is published for care homes (Feng Tan and Feng Tan, 2021).

    The Ministry of Health’s dashboard reports that there have been 882 deaths linked to COVID-19 on 11th February 2022.

    References:

    Feng Tan L. and Feng Tan M. (2021) Pandemic to endemic: New strategies needed to limit the impact of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.  70(1): 72-73. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.17556

PART 3 – Measures adopted to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people who use and provide Long-Term Care
PART 4 – Reforms to strengthen Long-Term Care systems and to improve preparedness for future pandemics and other emergencies

Printable version of this country profile:

https://ltccovid.org/country/singapore/

To cite this report:

TBC. LTCcovid country profile – Singapore. In: Comas-Herrera A., Marczak J., Byrd W., Lorenz-Dant K., (editors) International living report on COVID-19 and Long-Term Care users and providers: context, impacts, measures and lessons learnt. LTCcovid, Care Policy and Evaluation Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science. Available at: https://ltccovid.org/country-questions/


Most recent LTCcovid report for Singapore (July 2020):

https://ltccovid.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/The-COVID-19-Long-Term-Care-situation-in-Singapore-27July-2020.pdf

Acknowledgement and disclaimer

This report has been initially developed by the team working on the Social Care COVID Recovery and Resilience project and questions will be added to and validated by LTCCovid contributors who are experts on Long-Term Care in their respective countries. This study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme (NIHR202333). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.