NTUC Eldercare Co-operative Ltd (NTUC Eldercare) and Home Nursing Foundation (HNF) share a common wish for the needy and elderly in the community – that they should receive adequate assistance in healthcare and in social services, for a better all-round quality of life in their own homes.
As both healthcare and social services are necessary for the complete well-being of an elderly sick person, NTUC Eldercare and HNF are formally joining hands to bring both nursing and social services to the elderly in the community, taking a more holistic and patient-centered approach. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by the two parties to formalise a two-year collaboration till 10 July 2014.
More about the collaboration
NTUC Eldercare provides a range of home-based care services through its Care@home programme. This service is available island-wide. It includes assisting seniors in their Assisted Daily Living (ADLs), helping them with maintenance rehabilitation exercises, engaging them in mentally stimulating activities, providing light housekeeping, and preparing meals for the seniors at home. Care@home provides additional support for the family members of the elderly, and the elderly themselves to age in the community.
HNF is Singapore's premier home-nursing charity. Nurses from HNF visit patients in their own homes to administer nursing services like wound care, periodic check-ups, injections and the changing of feeding tubes. The large majority of HNF's patients are over 75 years old and many are bed-ridden or homebound. Some patients are long-term-care patients who are looked after by a family member at home, while others require short-term nursing support until their conditions improve. The neediest individuals receive significant subsidies from government for accommodation and for nursing fees. Shortfalls in nursing/nursing-related fees are then covered by HNF from donations.
The essence of the collaboration is that HNF nurses shall have a satellite office in NTUC Eldercare centres. NTUC Eldercare may refer patients requiring healthcare services in the respective area to the HNF nurses for that area, with faster reaction time in serving the patient. HNF nurses being present in the NTUC Eldercare centre, are also more available to meet any member of that community should they wish to know more about HNF's services. At the same time, should HNF's nurses feel that a patient that they attend to could do with help in social services, for example house-keeping, they can also refer the matter to NTUC Eldercare.
Through the collaboration, both NTUC Eldercare and HNF can mutually refer the elderly in their charge to each other and coordinate their efforts to more holistically meet the needs of the elderly in various aspects – medical, social, psychological, emotional and financial. The physical proximity also allows quicker cross referrals resulting in prompt service for patients.
Pilot Run
The pilot phase of the collaboration started in June, with two HNF nurses based at NTUC Eldercare Silver Circle Day Care Centre at Dakota Crescent (East), and another two HNF nurses stationed at NTUC Eldercare Senior Activity Centre (SAC) at Redhill (Central). Regular reviews would be made for extension of this collaboration to more Silver Circle Centres and SACs.
“Through the coordination of home care and home healthcare services, we hope to better serve the elderly in the community. Ultimately, we want to extend such quality and affordable services to more people who require such assistance”, commented Mr Chua Song Khim, Executive Director of NTUC Eldercare.
“HNF wants this collaboration to be helpful to the needy sick in the community. HNF hopes to foster a long term partnership with NTUC Eldercare,” says Dr Yim Sau Kit, Chief Executive Officer, Home Nursing Foundation, “to better serve the people in the community from a closer distance, and to provide timely and reliable home-medical, home-nursing, and home-care services more effectively and efficiently.”
