Shared stay-in senior care services now a mainstream option in Singapore
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- Shared Stay-in Senior Caregiving Services, allowing seniors to live together with caregiver support, comes after a successful sandbox initiative.
- Companies offering this service can apply for support, with a Good Practice Guide available.
- The model requires family involvement and professional caregiving, with providers engaging licensed services when needed.
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SINGAPORE – More seniors who prefer to age in a community setting
The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Dec 10 that the Shared Stay-in Senior Caregiving Services will become a mainstream model.
Interested companies can apply for support to facilitate their operations, including additional foreign worker quotas and more options to hire from non-traditional source countries.
They can apply for training subsidies for their caregiving staff, with up to 90 per cent of fees subsidised, MOH said.
The ministry and the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) have published an industry-led Good Practice Guide for interested companies, clients and their families.
The new assisted living model adds to the options for seniors, which include nursing homes and Community Care Apartments,
Speaking at the 5th anniversary celebration of St Luke’s ElderCare (SLEC) Residential-Based Services on Dec 10, Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung said the stayed-in model makes more sense than each senior hiring a domestic caregiver.
“As Singapore’s population ages, we recognise that seniors will increasingly have different needs and preferences.... Wherever possible, we should support seniors to lead an active and independent life, because that is best for their well-being.”
MOH’s decision to mainstream the senior care model comes after a sandbox initiative was launched in September 2023 to test new care models, enhance support for families and help more seniors age within their communities.
The sandbox featured caregiving staff providing basic support for daily living tasks, meals, housekeeping and social activities to a group of seniors living in the same residence, mirroring how caregivers at home support their loved ones.
The outcomes of the sandbox have been encouraging, with five companies – Red Crowns Senior Living, St Bernadette Lifestyle Village and its franchisees BlueAtria and Muein, and GROW – serving a total of 232 clients as of end-September 2025, MOH said.
Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung said the stayed-in model makes more sense than each senior hiring a domestic caregiver.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Assisted living operators face various challenges at the outset, before the sandbox initiative.
St Bernadette first started assisted living in Singapore in 2015, but could not scale its operations then due to the lack of manpower and other challenges.
Co-founder Belinda Wee said the manpower support in the sandbox meant that it was allocated one care staff for every three seniors, with a quota of 34 staff. This enabled it to scale to nine assisted living facilities in the past 18 months. The newest facility, in Duku Road, opened in June 2025.
Dr Wee added that its staff are not live-in foreign domestic workers, but trained employees who may live off site.
Occupational therapist Therese Marie Tay (right) doing money management with Mr Quek Heng Chye as part of cognitive rehabilitation on Dec 10.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
They were initially trained at Good Shepherd Loft, a nursing home in Bukit Timah co-founded by Dr Wee. After the sandbox started, new care staff attended the ITE Skills Certificate in Healthcare (Home care) course, which is conducted in-house.
Dr Wee said the care staff function independently as care leads and can seek help from the hub, which is Good Shepherd Loft, when they face problems that they cannot resolve.
Red Crowns Senior Living, which pioneered the concept of assisted living in HDB flats, was fined in 2024 for illegally hiring and deploying live-in migrant domestic workers to provide caregiving services at its facilities. It had to change its operating model to comply with the law on employment of foreign manpower.
MOH said seniors receiving care from the Shared Stay-in Senior Caregiving Services still require close involvement from family members, such as in the caregiving decision-making process for their loved ones.
At the same time, the operators and their caregiving staff must be responsible for delivering services safely and professionally. If a client requires a licensed care service, the operators must engage such services when requested by the family.
MOH said this collaborative approach among families, providers and caregiving staff is key to the success of the service.
Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung (second from right) taking a photograph at a Kopitiam Tales station where volunteers serve coffee to elders as one of their Home Away from Home activities.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
The 5th anniversary celebration of SLEC Residential-Based Services was held at its first nursing home – the 189-bed SLEC Residence @ Ang Mo Kio.
By the end of 2026, it will have another two nursing homes. The three facilities will have a total capacity of more than 650 beds to meet growing demand.
Mr Ong, who is also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, said MOH will continue to offer a diversity of care options for seniors.
For those who require assisted living but choose to live in their own homes, MOH is enhancing the Home Personal Care service to better respond to their needs and provide more frequent support
Interested companies can apply for training subsidies for their caregiving staff, with up to 90 per cent of fees subsidised, MOH said.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
As more caregiving options emerge, seniors may find themselves transiting from one care setting to another.
“When that happens, we must do our best to ensure that the process is smooth... (and) seamless,” said Mr Ong. “A senior’s health conditions, drug allergies and the medications they are taking must be known to the new care provider even before the senior arrives. Otherwise, care will be compromised.”
New policies will be needed to ensure that the integration process is seamless.
For example, service providers in various sub-regions will come together as an Integrated Community Care Provider to coordinate the delivery of care within their sub-region. New information technology systems are being developed to support this, Mr Ong added.
In January 2026, MOH will table the Health Information Bill, which governs not only the sharing of patient data in clinical settings, but also community settings, he said. This will ensure that seniors transition across various care settings more seamlessly – without the need for repetitive questioning, data collection and tests.
By sharing basic administrative data such as the names and addresses of vulnerable seniors who require befriending and engagement, personnel from public agencies, AIC and public healthcare clusters can better coordinate their efforts to support these seniors, Mr Ong added.
