Opinion: Choosing the Right Aged Care for Yourself

Legacy
26 Jun 2023
3 months ago

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Two recent news articles about aged care caught my eye and forced me to think about how I should be planning for the last years of my life.

The first was the announcement that Singapore’s first private assisted living development was in the works.

The project at Parry Avenue was just awarded to Perennial, a listed property development company which also runs 60 eldercare and medical facilities across 16 cities in China.

The 200-unit apartment project will feature a 100-bed nursing home, a wellness clubhouse, and a senior care centre.

The other was that Red Crowns Senior Living (a HDB centred social enterprise offering short-term leases to the aged) is being investigated by Ministry of Manpower (MOM) for concerns of fairness that the elderly clients would be held responsible if the maids sustained work-related problems such as lack of proper rest or if hospitalisation was required.

Living with the Right Facilities and Community

In thinking about different options, there are a few considerations that my peers and I share. We would like to:

Be as active for as long as possible, and enjoy this stage of life. Generally we’re still able to work out a few days a week, whether it’s for golf or walks;
Age together with friends or like-minded people, and thus be connected in the same ways we grew our friendships such as common interests of karaoke, food or card games;
Be in close proximity to each other for convenience and also to have shared medical care such as physiotherapy;
Not to be isolated from the rest of the community and to be amongst the younger set so that our outlook is not crowded with depression or pessimism;
Get some help to go for medical appointments at hospitals or specialist clinics. After all, our parents had larger families and generally this burden was shared. However this is a heavy burden with small, nuclear families

Options Available for Different Levels of Care

These can be categorised depending on the kind of care that’s needed:

Active Ageing Hubs — These are drop-in centres for daycare with set schedules for exercise, karaoke, arts and crafts;
Senior Care Centres — In addition to day-care and recreational activities, these also offer rehab services;
Nursing Homes – These are round-the-clock residential facilities for silvers with more complex medical issues;
Community Care Apartments (CCA) — HDB has launched 2 CCA projects. To qualify,you have to be above 65 years of age. The leases are between 15 and 35 years, in 5-year increments.

Option to buy into the Community Care Apartments

Harmony Village @Bukit Batok launched in Feb 2021 will have 169 units in a 15-storey residential block, and is priced between $52,000 and $60,000.

Queensway Canopy launched in Nov 2022, is targeted for completion in 3Q 2028.

There will be 5 blocks of flats of which 245 are categorised as CCA alongside 3- and 4-room bedders. The indicative price range is from $82,000 – $111,000.

There will be Active Ageing Centre and ActiveSG Gym operated by SportSG here.

What are the Costs like?

Red Crowns Senior Living charges start from $2,900 per person. This is in a 4-room HDB flat with 2 persons sharing one bedroom. It is a social enterprise.
Orange Valley Nursing Home costs about $4,000 for a 4-bedder with air-conditioning (no 2-bedders are available at the moment). This is owned by SPH which owns aged care facilities in Japan and Canada.
At the other end of the spectrum, Allium Healthcare at Thomson road charges about $10,000 for a 2-bedder with attached bathroom. This is owned by GK Goh Holdings which also owns over 80 similar facilities in Australia

In most cases, GST, consumables and medication are charged separately.

Questions for Your Care Provider

How much fees are subsidised if it’s a referral case from AIC?
What’s the patient-to-caregiver ratio?
What constitutes short- or long-term stay?
How much notice is necessary if you wish to shorten the stay?
Can you pick your roommate?
Are there curfew hours?
Distance to the nearest MRT/bus stop?

My thoughts

It’s clear that assisted living is in its infancy here.

The offering by Red Crowns suggests that it’s a good model as it entails a community concept of living without having to suffer from seniors’ isolation.

With 4 seniors to 2 maids, the ratio for personal care is high. I understand that the maids do more than cook and clean, they take blood pressure readings, do daily exercises with the seniors and accompany them to the clinics for check-ups.

Perhaps it’s time for the authorities to look outside the usual model of maid employment so that companies can hire them rather than individuals.

Given that these care costs will keep going up, the authorities could consider structuring the CPF so that either full or partial deductions can be made for this type of care. On average the monthly costs are US$4,000 (S$5,360) in the USA and from £2,000 (S$3,400) in UK.

Is Singapore ready for aged care?

By 2050, close to half the Singapore population will be aged 65years and older.

Given planning and building cycles, bar pandemics, it seems like Singapore has a lot of catching up to do.

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Lena Soh-Ng

Having spent most of her work life in PR, Media and Communications, Lena finds that there’s indeed a circle to life as she goes in a full loop back to Media, at SilverStreak. Whether writing, social media posting or researching, there’s always something fascinating to learn…these are her special Silver moments.

Tags: commentary, financial, health, retirement, selfcare, society, wellbeing

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