# Good progress in the implementation of Age Well SG

- **Source:** Ministry of National Development
- **Published:** 2024-10-11T16:00:00.000Z
- **Author:** Ministry of National Development
- **Original:** https://www.mnd.gov.sg/newsroom/press-releases/view/good-progress-in-the-implementation-of-age-well-sg
- **Topics:** Commercial & Industrial, Government & Policy

## Featured rationale

Expanded community care and senior-friendly upgrades may support ageing in place, potentially reducing institutional-care demand and influencing older households’ housing decisions.

## AI summary

Age Well SG will provide $140 million for upgrades to over 100 Active Ageing Centres and roll out enhanced Home Personal Care island-wide by end-2025.

## Original article

To provide more conducive environments and reach more seniors, the Ministry of Health (MOH) will dedicate $140 million to enhance and expand our Active Ageing Centres (AACs). We will also roll out the enhanced Home Personal Care (HPC+) service island-wide by end-2025, to further strengthen care support in the community. These were announced by Minister for Health, Mr Ong Ye Kung, at the Silver Generation Office’s (SGO) 10th Anniversary celebration event today, as he provided an update on Age Well SG.

Announced in November 2023, Age Well SG is our national programme to help our seniors age well in the community. As announced in Budget 2024, the Government has set aside $3.5 billion for this effort over the next decade.

Encouraging Active Ageing

Key to the Age Well SG strategy is to anchor ageing in the community. Our AACs serve as key nodes for seniors to stay socially engaged and physically active.

We have been reaching out to seniors across Singapore to understand their needs and connect them to the AACs. Since 2022, SGO has been conducting door-to-door Preventive Health Visits to engage seniors, to find out about their health and social needs and connect them to a nearby AAC or relevant support services in the community. To date, more than 480,000 seniors have been engaged through these visits, with the support of our Silver Generation Ambassadors.

We are also making good progress in expanding our AAC network and programmes, and stepping up engagement efforts to reach more seniors.

Over the past year, we have added 60 more AACs, bringing the total number of AACs to 214. We are on track to reach 220 AACs by 2025.

All AACs have now expanded their programmes beyond the confines of their centres, including at Residents’ Networks, sports centres and community decks. Beyond traditional programmes like Rummy O and morning exercise, AACs now offer programmes such as robotics, carpentry and language classes. More than eight in 10 AACs now offer programmes in at least four out of five domains (social, physical, cognitive, learning and volunteerism).

AACs have also been stepping up engagement of seniors in their assigned boundaries. As of FY2023, senior attendances at AACs have more than doubled to an average of 42 seniors per day, up from an average of 17 seniors per day in FY2021. Close to 80,000 seniors took part in the AAC programmes in FY2023, up from around 17,000 in FY2021.

More seniors are volunteering at the AACs. Since the launch of the Silver Guardian Programme in April this year, SGO has recruited, trained and placed more than 800 volunteers in the AACs. We are on track to reach 2,400 Silver Guardians at the AACs by 2028.

We will continue to invest in our AACs to improve service delivery for seniors. To date, we have set aside $800 million from FY2024 to FY2028 to fund a wider range of AAC programmes and services for seniors such as communal dining and frailty programmes.

In addition, we will be dedicating another $140 million from FY2025 to FY2027 to allow infrastructural upgrades for existing AACs. This will support over 100 existing AACs to expand or refurbish their centres to provide a more conducive and attractive environment for seniors, and expand existing AACs that are operating from smaller sites.

Strengthening Care Support in the Community

We are developing more options for seniors to receive timely and appropriate care where they are residing in the community.

Enhanced HPC+ Service

Since March 2023, the enhanced HPC+ service has been rolled out as a pilot at 11 sites. It is now able to provide more responsive and frequent support to seniors. We have also introduced new features and modules such as the 24/7 technology-enabled monitoring and response element to detect falls and incidents. Findings from the pilot study have been positive, with HPC+ being able to support the demand for higher intensity and frequency of care among seniors. We have also observed lower nursing home admission rates among frailer seniors.

MOH will mainstream HPC+ island-wide by end-2025 to benefit more seniors, including more than 4,500 seniors currently on the existing home personal care service who will be transited to HPC+.

Streamlining Care Journey for Seniors

We are also working to streamline the care journey for seniors. Today, seniors and their families may have to interact with multiple care providers and undergo repeated assessments by each provider.

To provide a more seamless care journey for seniors and their caregivers, we will appoint an Integrated Community Care Provider (ICCP) to oversee care coordination for each region. We have been in consultation with key stakeholders and many of our sector partners are supportive of this effort. The first Request for Proposals for regions without existing providers will be launched by Q4 2024. We will encourage existing providers to come together and form partnerships to perform the ICCP functions, and are working towards implementing this across Singapore by 2026.

Improvements to the Living Environment

Enhancing Homes and Communities to Make Them More Senior-friendly

Under Age Well SG, we are making a bigger and more concerted push to further enhance the living environment to make it safer and easier for seniors to engage in their daily activities.

Under the Silver Upgrading Programme (SUP), around 24,000 seniors across 26 precincts with higher densities of seniors in Ang Mo Kio, Bukit Merah, Queenstown, and Toa Payoh can look forward to new active ageing facilities like therapeutic gardens and fitness trails, barrier-free access, rest points along pathways, as well as dementia-friendly elements to aid in navigation. These senior-friendly enhancements will be progressively carried out over the next five years, with all works estimated to be completed by 2029.

Future projects under the Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP) will also include more senior-friendly amenities as part of estate rejuvenation works. These amenities will enhance the safety and connectivity of our neighbourhoods while helping seniors to stay active and engaged within their community.

Similar upgrading works will also be carried out at selected older private residential estates under the Estate Upgrading Programme (EUP).

Within homes, we have expanded the Enhancement for Active Seniors (EASE) programme to offer a wider range of senior-friendly features.

From 1 April this year, seniors can choose from 11 different fittings, including newly introduced fittings such as foldable shower seats, the Home Fire Alarm Device (HFAD), lowered toilet entrance kerbs, and handrails at multi-step flat entrances, to create a safer environment at home that supports ageing-in-place.

Since the programme’s launch in July 2012, more than 293,000 households have had senior-friendly fittings installed in their flats, either in conjunction with the Home Improvement Programme, or through direct application to HDB. Fittings offered under EASE are heavily subsidised, and flat owners pay as low as 5% of the cost of the chosen fittings, depending on their flat type.

For vulnerable seniors living in public rental flats, we will progressively expand the provision of the wireless alert alarm system to all public rental households with at least one senior aged 60 and above from early 2025. Seniors who press the alert device in their homes will be connected to CareLine, a 24/7 hotline that responds to callers in distress. The expansion is expected to benefit around 26,800 more seniors living in around 170 rental blocks.

We also expanded our housing options for seniors.

Harmony Village @ Bukit Batok, Singapore’s first Community Care Apartment (CCA) project, will be completed by October 2024. CCA is a public housing typology that pairs senior-friendly housing with on-site social activities and care services that can be customised according to the senior’s care needs. Seniors living in CCAs will be supported by a community manager who will facilitate light social programming, basic health checks, assistance with simple household fixes, and round-the-clock emergency monitoring and response service.

At the upcoming October sales exercise, the fourth CCA project featuring 260 CCAs will be launched in MacPherson.

By 2030, we will launch up to 30 CCA projects, if the model of care provision proves to be effective and scalable. These projects will be in different locations across Singapore, so that more seniors can have the option to spend their golden years in neighbourhoods that they are familiar with.

Friendly Streets

Commuting, especially within the local neighbourhood, is an integral part of the daily living experience of our seniors. We have thus introduced the Friendly Streets initiative, which will make our neighbourhood roads more pedestrian-friendly with features such as: more barrier free crossings, more road humps and raised zebra crossings to slow down traffic, and longer and more frequent green-man signals.

As of September 2024, we have completed two Friendly Streets pilots at Ang Mo Kio Street 31 and West Coast Road. Works on the other three Friendly Streets pilot locations are ongoing and will be progressively completed by 2025. We have also commenced engagements with the local communities for the next batch of Friendly Streets in 10 more towns as announced at MOT’s Committee of Supply 2024. By 2030, the Friendly Streets initiative will be expanded to all towns to make walking and cycling safer, more inclusive and comfortable for seniors and the community.

Beyond Friendly Streets, improvements will also be made to commuter infrastructure over the next 10 years to support walking as the first- and last-mile mode of commuting, improve public transport experience, and support seniors commuting in the community. They include:

Building more covered linkways to connect MRT stations to Friendly Streets and key amenities nearby;

Upgrading more bus stops with senior-friendly features such as additional seats with arm and back rests, and ensuring these are wheelchair accessible; and

Retrofitting more pedestrian overhead bridges with lifts to provide barrier-free access, especially those near public transport nodes and healthcare institutions.

More details can be found on www.agewellsg.gov.sg. Together with the efforts of the community and the family, we will continue to make Singapore a home where seniors can age well in their homes and communities, while remaining connected to their loved ones.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT
12 OCTOBER 2024

## Chinese translation

> Translation model: grok_cli

### “乐龄安居新加坡”（Age Well SG）落实进展良好

为营造更有利的环境并惠及更多乐龄人士，卫生部（MOH）将拨出1.4亿新元，以加强并扩大活跃乐龄中心（Active Ageing Centres，AACs）。我们也将在2025年底前在全国推行加强版居家个人护理（Home Personal Care，HPC+）服务，进一步强化社区照护支援。上述措施由卫生部长王乙康先生在银发一代办事处（Silver Generation Office，SGO）十周年庆祝活动上公布，并同时汇报“乐龄安居新加坡”（Age Well SG）进展。

“乐龄安居新加坡”于2023年11月公布，是帮助乐龄人士在社区中安享晚年的全国性计划。正如2024年财政预算案所宣布，政府已为这项工作在未来十年预留35亿新元。

鼓励活跃乐龄

“乐龄安居新加坡”策略的关键在于将乐龄生活扎根于社区。活跃乐龄中心是乐龄人士保持社交参与和身体活动的重要节点。

我们一直在全岛接触乐龄人士，了解他们的需求，并将他们与活跃乐龄中心对接。自2022年起，SGO在银发一代大使支持下，进行入户预防性健康探访，了解乐龄人士的健康与社交需求，并将他们对接至附近的活跃乐龄中心或社区相关支援服务。迄今已有超过48万名乐龄人士通过这些探访获得接触。

我们也在扩大活跃乐龄中心网络与项目、加强外展以接触更多乐龄人士方面取得良好进展。

过去一年，我们新增了60所活跃乐龄中心，总数达214所。我们有望在2025年前达到220所。

目前所有活跃乐龄中心均已把项目扩展至中心以外，包括居民网络、体育中心和社区平台等场所。除传统的拉密欧（Rummy O）和晨间运动等项目外，活跃乐龄中心现亦提供机器人、木工和语言课程等。超过八成活跃乐龄中心现至少在五个领域（社交、体能、认知、学习与义工服务）中的四个提供项目。

活跃乐龄中心也加强对其指定范围内乐龄人士的外展。截至2023财政年度，活跃乐龄中心的乐龄出席人次已超过翻倍，平均每日42人，高于2021财政年度的平均每日17人。2023财政年度约有近8万名乐龄人士参与活跃乐龄中心项目，高于2021财政年度约1.7万人。

更多乐龄人士在活跃乐龄中心担任义工。自今年4月推出“银发守护者计划”（Silver Guardian Programme）以来，SGO已招募、培训并安排超过800名义工到活跃乐龄中心服务。我们有望在2028年前在活跃乐龄中心达到2,400名银发守护者。

我们将继续投资活跃乐龄中心，改善为乐龄人士提供的服务。迄今已从2024财政年度至2028财政年度拨出8亿新元，资助更广泛的活跃乐龄中心项目与服务，例如共膳和衰弱相关项目等。

此外，我们将从2025财政年度至2027财政年度再拨出1.4亿新元，用于现有活跃乐龄中心的基建升级。这将支援超过100所现有活跃乐龄中心扩建或翻新，以提供更宜居、更有吸引力的环境，并扩大目前在较小场地运营的中心。

强化社区照护支援

我们正为乐龄人士发展更多选择，以便他们在所居社区获得及时、合适的照护。

加强版HPC+服务

自2023年3月起，加强版HPC+服务已在11个地点试点推行。目前该服务能为乐龄人士提供更及时、更频繁的支援。我们也推出新功能与模块，例如24/7科技辅助监测与响应元素，以侦测跌倒和事故。试点研究结果显示积极，HPC+能够支援乐龄人士对更高强度、更高频率照护的需求。我们也观察到较衰弱乐龄人士的疗养院入院率有所下降。

卫生部将在2025年底前在全国主流化推行HPC+，惠及更多乐龄人士，包括目前使用现有居家个人护理服务、将转用HPC+的超过4,500名乐龄人士。

精简乐龄人士照护流程

我们也正努力精简乐龄人士的照护流程。目前，乐龄人士及其家人可能需要与多个照护服务提供者互动，并接受各提供者重复评估。

为让乐龄人士及其照护者获得更顺畅的照护体验，我们将为每个区域指定一名综合社区照护服务提供者（Integrated Community Care Provider，ICCP），统筹照护协调。我们已与主要利益相关方磋商，许多业界伙伴支持这项工作。针对尚未有现有提供者的区域，首轮建议征求书将于2024年第四季推出。我们将鼓励现有服务提供者合作，共同履行ICCP职能，并争取在2026年前在全新加坡落实。

改善居住环境

提升住家与社区，使其更适合乐龄

在“乐龄安居新加坡”下，我们正更大力、更协调地推动进一步提升居住环境，使乐龄人士更安全、更方便地从事日常活动。

在“乐龄提升计划”（Silver Upgrading Programme，SUP）下，宏茂桥、红山、女皇镇和大巴窑等26个乐龄密度较高地段约2.4万名乐龄人士，可期待新增活跃乐龄设施，例如治疗花园和健身步道、无障碍通道、路径沿线休息点，以及协助导航的认知症友好元素。这些乐龄友好提升工程将在未来五年逐步实施，预计全部工程于2029年前完成。

未来“邻里更新计划”（Neighbourhood Renewal Programme，NRP）项目也将在市镇更新工程中纳入更多乐龄友好设施。这些设施将提升邻里安全与连通性，同时帮助乐龄人士在社区中保持活跃与参与。

类似提升工程也将在“产业提升计划”（Estate Upgrading Programme，EUP）下于部分较旧私人住宅区进行。

在住家层面，我们已扩大“乐龄生活改进计划”（Enhancement for Active Seniors，EASE），提供更广泛的乐龄友好设施。

自今年4月1日起，乐龄人士可从11种不同配件中选择，包括新推出的可折叠淋浴座椅、住家火灾警报装置（Home Fire Alarm Device，HFAD）、降低的厕所入口门槛，以及多层台阶组屋入口扶手等，以打造更安全、支援居家安老的环境。

自该计划于2012年7月推出以来，已有超过29.3万户家庭在组屋内安装乐龄友好配件，或配合“居家改进计划”（Home Improvement Programme）进行，或直接向建屋发展局（HDB）申请。EASE所提供的配件获大幅津贴，组屋业主视单位类型最低仅需支付所选配件成本的5%。

对于居住在公共租赁组屋的弱势乐龄人士，我们将从2025年初起逐步把无线警报系统扩大至所有至少有一名60岁及以上乐龄人士的公共租赁住户。乐龄人士在家按下警报装置后，将接通CareLine——一条24/7回应危急来电的热线。扩大后预计再惠及约170栋租赁组屋中约2.68万名乐龄人士。

我们也扩大了乐龄人士的住房选择。

新加坡首个社区照护公寓（Community Care Apartment，CCA）项目——武吉巴督和谐村（Harmony Village @ Bukit Batok）将于2024年10月竣工。CCA是一种公共住房形态，将乐龄友好住房与现场社交活动及可按乐龄人士照护需求定制的照护服务相结合。居住在CCA的乐龄人士将由社区经理支援，协助轻度社交活动、基本健康检查、简单家居维修，以及全天候紧急监测与响应服务。

在即将举行的10月销售活动中，第四个CCA项目将在麦波申推出，共260个CCA单位。

到2030年，若该照护模式被证明有效且可扩展，我们将推出多达30个CCA项目。这些项目将分布在新加坡不同地点，让更多乐龄人士有机会在熟悉的邻里安度黄金岁月。

友好街道

通勤，尤其是在本区邻里内的通勤，是乐龄人士日常生活体验的重要部分。因此我们推出了“友好街道”（Friendly Streets）计划，使邻里道路更适合行人，措施包括：更多无障碍过路设施、更多减速路拱与抬高斑马线以减缓车速，以及更长、更频繁的绿灯行人信号。

截至2024年9月，我们已在宏茂桥第31街和西海岸路完成两个友好街道试点。其余三个友好街道试点地点工程仍在进行，并将于2025年前逐步完成。我们也已开始与地方社区接触，落实交通部在2024年拨款委员会上公布的下一批10个市镇友好街道计划。到2030年，友好街道计划将扩展至所有市镇，使步行和骑行对乐龄人士及社区更安全、更具包容性、更舒适。

除友好街道外，未来10年也将改善通勤基础设施，以支援将步行作为通勤第一哩与最后一哩方式、改善公共交通体验，并支援乐龄人士在社区中通勤。措施包括：

兴建更多有盖连接道，连接地铁站与友好街道及附近主要设施；

升级更多巴士站，增设带扶手与靠背的座位等乐龄友好设施，并确保轮椅可达；以及

为更多人行天桥加装电梯，提供无障碍通行，尤其是靠近公共交通枢纽和医疗机构者。

更多详情可浏览 www.agewellsg.gov.sg。在社区与家庭共同努力下，我们将继续把新加坡建设成乐龄人士可在住家与社区中安享晚年、并与亲友保持连结的家园。

卫生部

国家发展部

交通部
2024年10月12日