The largest government-run nursing home will open in Tampines North in the latter half of this year.
The new home will have 300 beds, 170 more than Pearl's Hill Care Home and 52 more than Woodlands Care Home.
Announcing the new project yesterday during a visit to the Woodlands home, Dr Lam Pin Min, Senior Minister of State for Health and Transport, said the demographic profiles in various neighbourhoods were studied before Tampines North was identified "as probably one of those areas where we need a new nursing home to support the growing demand".
He added that the new home will feature new programmes to improve care for residents.
"With that new centre coming up, we intend to look at other forms of innovation and more details will be released later. We expect... that centre to be ready some time by the second half of this year," said Dr Lam.
The Tampines North Home will be the third such facility operating under Vanguard Healthcare, which was set up by the Ministry of Health and MOH Holdings in 2015 to grow and support the development of eldercare services in Singapore.
Woodlands Care Home began piloting one such innovative programme called Home Enablement and Autonomous Living, or Heal, last month.
The Heal programme, which is also expected to be conducted at the Tampines home, aims to teach residents how to become independent before they are discharged. Residents will learn how to serve themselves at meal times, wash their own laundry, and use the toilet and shower independently.
Those undergoing the programme are chosen based on their medical and psychosocial condition.
The programme also aims to provide assurance to family members of the residents that they are ready to go home and are capable of living independently.
Currently, there are three residents enrolled in the Heal programme at Woodlands Care Home.
Among them is Mr Abraham Mizam, 43, who had the lower half of his left leg amputated after an accident in Batam last year. He was subsequently referred to Woodlands Care Home.
Mr Mizam, who shared that he used to rely on the support of his friends, said: "Now, I'm learning how to survive by myself."
