Homes for the Aged Regulations

Homes for the Aged Act

(Chapter 126A, Section 20(1))

Homes for the Aged Regulations

Rg 1

REVISED EDITION 1990

(25th March 1992)

[1st February 1989]

Citation

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Homes for the Aged Regulations.

Definitions

2.  In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires —

“care person” means a guardian, family member, relative or friend of the resident;

“care staff” means an assistant nurse, nursing aide, attendant or helper employed by the licensee to work in the home;

“home” means a home for the aged;

“infectious disease” means any of the diseases set out in the First Schedule of the Infectious Diseases Act (Cap. 137);

“staff” means any person appointed by the licensee to act on his behalf in the management of the home and any other person employed by the licensee to work in the home;

“medical practitioner” means any person who is registered as a medical practitioner under the Medical Registration Act (Cap. 174);

“nurse” means a nurse registered or enrolled under the Nurses and Midwives Act (Cap. 209).

Licence and fee

3.—(1)  Every licence issued by the Director-General shall be in such form as the Director-General may determine.

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(2)  The fee payable for a licence shall be $400 except that the fee payable for a licence by a charity as defined in the Charities Act (Cap. 37) shall be $12.

Notification of change of licensee’s address, etc.

4.—(1)  The licensee shall notify the Director-General —

(a) of any change of the licensee’s address within 14 days of such change; and

(b) of any change in the fees and charges payable by residents.

[S 524/2020 wef 01/07/2020]

(2)  Where the licensee is a body corporate, any officer holding a managerial or an executive position shall notify the Director-General of any change in the composition of the board of directors or committee or board of trustees or other governing body of the body corporate within 14 days of such change.

[S 524/2020 wef 01/07/2020]

Provision of facilities and services

5.  The licensee shall —

(a) provide recreational facilities for residents;

(b) provide, where necessary, occupational therapy and physiotherapy for residents;

(c) provide a counselling service for residents;

(d) provide suitable facilities for visits to the home by care persons and encourage care persons to maintain regular contacts with residents;

(e) provide every resident with a locker or storage space of such size as is sufficient to contain the personal effects, such as clothing, of the resident;

(f) provide every resident with a bed space of not less than 3.5 square metres and the distance between the beds shall not be less than one metre to facilitate wheelchair movement and the placement of a screen around a bed whenever required;

(g) put up a written menu for meals for residents and provide suitable and properly prepared food for the residents;

(h) employ suitably qualified and competent care staff and nurses in numbers which shall be determined by the Director-General having regard to the number, age, sex and condition of residents; and

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(i) make arrangements for residents to receive, where necessary, medical services from a medical practitioner.

Licensee to comply with conditions

6.  Every licensee shall comply with the conditions set out in the Schedule.

Medical examination of staff

7.—(1)  No person shall be employed by the licensee to work in the home unless that person has undergone a medical examination, including a chest X-ray, and has been certified by a medical practitioner to be free from infectious diseases.

(2)  The licensee shall require all staff handling food in the home to be screened for cholera, tuberculosis and typhoid once a year and vaccinated against typhoid once in 3 years.

First-aid facilities

8.—(1)  The licensee shall ensure that the home has a first-aid kit for emergency treatment which shall be kept in an accessible and safe place in the home.

(2)  The licensee shall make arrangements for training of staff, who are not nurses, in first-aid by the Singapore Red Cross Society or St. John Ambulance Brigade and shall ensure that at least one member of the staff holds a certificate issued by the Singapore Red Cross Society or St. John Ambulance Brigade on successful completion of the training.

Fire precautions

9.—(1)  The licensee shall take adequate precautions against the risk of fire including —

(a) provision of adequate means of escape in the event of fire and ensuring that all fire escape passages and staircases are clear of obstruction at all times;

(b) making adequate arrangements for detecting, containing and extinguishing fire, for the giving of warnings and for the evacuation of all persons in the home in the event of fire;

(c) maintenance of fire precautions and fire fighting equipment; and

(d) making arrangements to secure by means of fire drills and practices that staff in the home and, so far as practicable, residents know the procedure to be followed in the case of fire including the procedure for saving life.

(2)  The licensee shall —

(a) conduct a fire drill at least once every 6 months and maintain a record of all fire drills; and

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(b) display conspicuously in the home notices of the procedure to be followed in the event of fire.

Emergency information

10.—(1)  Every home shall have a list of emergency telephone numbers which is readily available to the staff including the telephone numbers of —

(a) the fire service;

(b) the ambulance services; and

(c) the police department.

(2)  The home shall also have readily available to the staff —

(a) the home address and address of place of work and the telephone numbers of each resident’s care person; and

(b) any special medical information provided by the resident’s care person or doctor.

Licensee to inquire into any complaint of abuse of resident

11.—(1)  The licensee shall forthwith inquire into any complaint of an abuse of any resident and shall report its findings to the Director-General as expeditiously as may be reasonably expected of it but in any case not later than two weeks after the complaint.

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(2)  No member of the staff shall strike, shake, shove or spank any resident or inflict any other form of physical violence on the resident.

Notification of death, illness or accident

12.—(1)  When a resident is ill or has an accident the licensee shall forthwith —

(a) arrange for the resident to receive medical attention;

(b) notify the care person of the resident; and

(c) record the accident or illness in the daily log-book maintained under regulation 14.

(2)  The licensee shall notify the police forthwith of the death of any resident.

Records

13.—(1)  The licensee shall maintain an admissions register and a resident’s casefile.

(2)  The admissions register shall have numbered pages in which the following particulars of each resident shall be recorded —

(a) Resident’s record:

(i) Admission number.

(ii) Name.

(iii) Sex.

(iv) Address.

(v) Date and place of birth/age.

(vi) Race.

(vii) Marital status.

(viii) Religion.

(ix) NRIC number.

(x) Citizenship status.

(xi) Citizenship certificate number, if any.

(xii) Date of admission.

(xiii) Source of referral.

(xiv) Reason for admission.

(xv) Daily, weekly or monthly fees payable.

(xvi) Deposit payable.

(xvii) Social Welfare aid, if any.

(xviii) Date of discharge.

(xix) Reason for discharge.

(b) Classification of resident:

(i) Ambulant.

(ii) Semi-ambulant.

(iii) Bedridden.

Log-book

14.  The licensee shall maintain a log-book for daily records.

Penalty

15.  Any licensee who contravenes or fails to comply with regulation 5(h), 5(i), 6, 7, 9, 11, 13 or 14 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000.

THE SCHEDULE

Regulation 6

Conditions

A: Homes

(1) Every home which is in a building of 3 storeys or more shall be sufficiently served by lifts with safety control devices.

(2) No swing door shall be installed in any home.

(3) The floors in the home shall not be of bare concrete.

(4) The floors in the home shall be clean, safe, level, washable and of non-slip material.

(5) Every home shall have designated space for toilet facilities, washing, eating, resting, preparation of food (if meals are prepared on the premises), an office, staff rest area, isolation, storage of food, beds, materials and equipment and medical supplies.

(6) Ramps shall be provided in the home to facilitate the movement of wheelchairs.

(7) Handrails shall be securely mounted on both sides of the ramp and staircases in the home to facilitate the movement of residents.

(8) Grab bars shall be provided in hallways and corridors in the home.

(9) Every part of the home shall be maintained at all times in a clean and sanitary condition and in a good state of repair.

B: Sanitary facilities

(1) Bathrooms, wash areas and toilets shall be tiled with non-slip tiles.

(2) Handbars and grab bars shall be provided in the bathrooms and toilets.

(3) Toilets shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition and kept in a good state of repair at all times.

(4) Walls of toilets shall be lined with glazed tiles to a height of at least 2.2 metres.

(5) The walls behind and above all wash-basins, except those basins located in toilets, shall be tiled with glazed tiles to a height of not less than 0.45 metres.

(6) Soap holders or dispensers shall be provided for all wash-basins.

(7) Prompt action shall be taken to rectify any defective fittings or choked water-closets.

(8) The sanitary facilities for residents shall be in the ratios set out below:

Sanitary Facilities

Number of Beds

Wash Basin

Water Closet

Bathroom

First 20 beds

1:5

1:5

1:10

In excess of 20 beds

1:10

1:10

1:15

C: Kitchen facilities

(1) The kitchen, if provided, shall be kept clean at all times.

(2) Surfaces which come in contact with food shall be constructed of non-corrosive and impervious material.

(3) Dishes shall be washed in sinks with draining boards connected to the sewers and not on the floor.

(4) Appropriate dish draining facilities shall be above floor level.

D: Dormitories

(1) Dormitory floors shall be washed and cleaned with disinfectant daily.

(2) All containers/bed pans used for defecating by residents shall contain a disinfectant solution.

(3) All areas within the dormitory that are dirtied shall be cleaned immediately with disinfectant.

(4) All bed pans shall be cleared and disinfected after use.

(5) Bedsheets shall be changed at least once every week and whenever they are wet.

E: Dining area

(1) The dining hall shall be mopped daily with disinfectant.

(2) Disposed food shall be properly wrapped and preferably disposed of in plastic bags.

F: Environment of the home

(1) Checks shall be carried out to ensure that there is no indiscriminate disposal of organic/food waste within the home or home’s compound.

(2) All waste must be collected in plastic bags prior to placing them in bulk bins.

(3) There shall be no receptacles containing stagnant water to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes.

(4) There shall be proper drainage of water and water pollution control.

(5) All water-closets, urinals, bathrooms and drains shall be kept clean at all times.

G: Laundry

Seperate storage areas shall be provided for soiled and clean linens.

H: Preventing food from being contaminated

(1) Any food handler who is sick or who suffers from influenza, skin infection or diarrhoea shall not be allowed to prepare food.

(2) All food handlers shall wash their hands with soap and water before preparing food, especially after visiting the toilet or urinal and shall also wear clean clothes while preparing food.

(3) Cooks shall be required to maintain a high standard of personal and food hygiene.

(4) Care shall be taken to keep raw food seperate from cooked food.

(5) Food samples shall be made available for bacteriological analysis whenever required.

(6) There shall be regular inspections of the kitchen to ensure that there are no lapses in the standard of personal and food hygiene.

(7) Any leftover food shall be discarded.

I: Maintenance of cooking utensils and equipment

All utensils and equipment shall be cleaned, dried and property stored, if not in use.

J: Disposal of rubbish

A bin centre shall be constructed to facilitate the collection of rubbish, where applicable.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

Homes for the Aged Regulations

 

This Legislative History is provided for the convenience of users of the Homes for the Aged Regulations. It is not part of these Regulations.
1.	G. N. No. S 29/1989—Homes for the Aged Regulations 1989
	Date of commencement	:	Date not available
2.	G. N. No. S 105/1989
	Date of commencement	:	Date not available
3.	G.N. No. S 524/2020—Homes for the Aged (Amendment) Regulations 2020
	Date of commencement	:	1 July 2020