Home care VS nursing homes?

What are nursing homes?

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Nursing homes are care facilities that cater to elderly who require assistance with daily activities like bathing, using the toilet and eating.

What is home care?

With home care or home nursing, elderly receive care and support from their family members and/or healthcare professionals in the comfort of their home.

When home care may be more suitable than nursing homes

In certain circumstances, home care is more beneficial to both the elderly and the caregiver.

Elderly

For those with dementia or those who simply take comfort in the familiarity of their home, having healthcare professionals that can attend to them in the home is important.

One-to-one care also ensures highly personalised care and undivided attention from healthcare professionals and the caregiver.

Caregivers

For caregivers who are working and/or juggling multiple responsibilities, home care allows them a flexible care schedule. They can ensure their loved one is receiving sufficient medical care without being constrained to the fixed visiting hours of a nursing home.

Home care is also more affordable as compared to nursing homes because you only book the hours you require. For more information on home nursing costs, click here.

How to provide home care?

There are 2 main ways, engaging home nurses or hiring medically trained maids.

1. Home nurses

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Hiring a home nurse makes access to professional medical care accessible and flexible. 

Home nurses can perform nursing procedures in the home, saving on cost, transportation and queuing at the hospitals. The elderly are also able to rest and recover immediately at home following the procedures.

They can also assess potential hazards in the home. These include slippery floors and lack of sufficient support structures. Nurses can make simple home modification recommendations like installing grab bars or placing anti-slip mats on slippery floors.

With their specialised knowledge of medication, these nurses can also help to manage medication, ensuring that the correct medicines are taken in the right doses and at the right times.

Depending on the extent of medical care required, home nurses can be hired full-time or on an adhoc basis.

2. Medically trained maids

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An alternative option to home care is hiring stay-home maids to help take care of the elderly.

To equip stay-home maids with important elderly care skills, the nurses at Medical Assistance4u provide home visit services where they guide helpers on how to properly care for the elderly and their needs. 

Moreover, we also provide delivery services for daily needs products when the home supply is running low. This allows the stay-home maid to focus on caring for the elderly and housekeeping.

Subsidies for home care services

MediSave

For Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents aged 30 and above who are severely disabled, monthly MediSave Care withdrawals can be made to offset long-term care needs. 

These include:

1. Personal care
2. Respite care
3. Check-in visits
4. Night care
5. Post-surgery care

Find out more here.

Home Caregiving Grant (HCG)

The Home Caregiving Grant (HCG) pays out $200 monthly to eligible care recipients for the purpose of supporting loved ones with at least permanent moderate disability (always requiring some assistance to perform three or more Activities of Daily Living). 

This grant can be used to help with caregiving expenses like eldercare, caregiver support services in the community and/or hiring a domestic helper. 

Find out if you are eligible for this grant here.

At Medical Assistance4u

Our team of medically trained staff at Medical Assistance4u can provide you with consultation services to assist you in providing good elderly care and finding the right assistive tool and medical equipment. 

We also provide services like installation and repair services, relocation and disposal services for bulky medical equipment, home care services and transport for your wheelchair-bound loved ones.