SINGAPORE - A new national IT system for nursing homes is in the works, and is expected to replace files and forms at 36 homes for a start over the next three years.

Nursing homes across the island can use the system to share resident care details, manage their staff and finances, as well as build quick medical diagnosis reports.

The system, named the Nursing Home IT Enablement Programme (NHELP), will also be linked to the National Electronic Health Records when it goes live next year.

It is a collaboration between the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), German information and communication technology (ICT) systems provider T-Systems Singapore, and Leecare Solutions, which developed the software.

NHELP will be provided free to nursing homes for the first three years.

They will start to pay 20 per cent of the operating cost in the fourth and fifth years. Fee structure is based on the number of beds and will cost $6.5 million to implement in 36 homes. So far, nine homes have signed on.

"The system can help us to remove tedious and repetitive tasks," said executive director of Singapore Christian Home (SCH) Ms Yip Moh Han at the NHELP launch on Monday. SCH will be the first to test the new system next February.

NHELP is part of a push by the AIC to prepare Singapore's nursing homes for the Enhanced Nursing Home Standards, which were finalised in January and will take effect next year.