SINGAPORE – Nursing home staff will get training in palliative and end-of-life care for elderly residents under a new tie-up between Dover Park Hospice and NTUC Health that aims to benefit more than 1,600 residents.
The two-year initiative is part of efforts to address a critical need in Singapore’s fast-ageing society, the two organisations said in a joint statement on Oct 25.
The pilot programme – involving about 60 nursing and care staff – is expected to start early in 2027 at the NTUC Health Nursing Home in Geylang East, with the likelihood of expanding to the five other nursing homes the co-operative operates.
Training will focus on equipping front-line healthcare workers with skills to provide palliative care in the nursing homes, aimed at helping residents receive end-of-life care in a more familiar setting.
Singapore is grappling with the challenges of an ageing society in which more than one in five citizens is 65 or older.
Speaking at a Dover Park Hospice fund-raising gala at Shangri-La Singapore hotel on Oct 25, Minister for Energy, Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) Tan See Leng, the guest of honour, said that while two-thirds of Singaporeans would prefer to die at home, nearly two-thirds of Singapore residents died in hospitals in 2023.
“There is more we can do to better support the end-of-life wishes and care preferences of our patients,” he added.
Tan said demand for palliative care would continue to grow as more Singaporeans live longer, often with serious illnesses and increasingly complex care needs.
Dover Park Hospice chairman Ong Hung Guan in his address said longer lifespans have brought growing pressures on healthcare resources and families, particularly caregivers who juggle work, raising children and looking after ageing parents. Caregivers also face burnout, financial strain and emotional exhaustion, he added.
Ong said Dover Park Hospice must look beyond delivering care within its own facilities and patients’ homes.
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