How to choose a nursing home in Singapore
A doctor’s framework for choosing residential care: what to ask, what to look for, and how to walk into the visit prepared.
The seven-step framework
1. Define the level of care first, not the brand of the home
Before you start browsing, write down:
- How many Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) your parent needs help with: bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting, walking/transferring, continence. (Six total; needing help with three or more is the CareShield Life threshold.)
- What medical conditions need ongoing nursing oversight: diabetes, wound care, dementia stage, post-stroke rehabilitation, respiratory support.
- Behavioural considerations: dementia with wandering, agitation, or sundowning patterns.
Bring this written summary to every visit. It is the brief the home’s admissions team needs to give you accurate answers, and it is the artefact that will most help you compare homes against each other.
2. Verify the MOH licence
Every facility on this directory is MOH-licensed under the Healthcare Services Act (HCSA). If you find a candidate through a referral or social media that isn’t on this directory, ask the operator for their HCSA licence number and check it on the MOH register before going further. Unlicensed “nursing homes” (sometimes branded as “senior care residences”) exist and are not safe options for clinically complex residents.
3. Confirm subsidy eligibility before you tour
The MOH ILTC portable subsidy is the difference between paying around S$3,500/month and S$700/month for most Singapore Citizens. Eligibility is means-tested using household income (per person):
- Household income per person ≤ S$900: 75% subsidy for SC, 50% for PR.
- Household income per person S$901–$1,500: 60% SC, 40% PR.
- Household income per person S$1,501–$2,300: 50% SC, 30% PR.
- Household income per person S$2,301–$2,600: 40% SC, 20% PR.
- Household income per person S$2,601–$3,600: 20% SC, 10% PR.
- Household income per person above S$3,600: 0%.
Visit an MSF Social Service Office to confirm your tier before you tour homes. Knowing the subsidy upfront means you can ask each home about the net fee for your tier and compare apples to apples. See the subsidy guide for the full mechanics.
4. The visit checklist
What to look for in the first thirty minutes on site:
- Smell. A well-run home does not smell of urine. Persistent urine smell is the clearest signal of inadequate staffing.
- How staff speak to residents. Watch a feeding session. Are residents being addressed by name, given time to chew, asked what they want? Or are they being processed?
- Bathrooms. Are grab rails secure? Is there a non-slip mat? Are call buttons within reach of the toilet, not just the bed?
- Common areas. Are residents in the dayroom doing something (activity, conversation, TV with sound on), or parked in a row of wheelchairs facing nothing?
- Bed spacing. Open-ward beds with less than one metre of space between them are too cramped for safe lifting and turning.
- Outdoor access. A walking garden or sheltered courtyard meaningfully improves quality of life for ambulant residents. Note whether it’s actually accessible (gate codes, supervision policies).
5. The questions to ask
- Nurse-to-resident ratio at night (not just day).
- How often a doctor visits, and whether your parent’s existing specialists can continue to see them.
- How frequently a pharmacist reviews each resident’s medication list. (Polypharmacy in elderly residents is a major source of preventable harm.)
- What happens when a resident’s condition deteriorates: transfer to which hospital, by what means, with what notice to family.
- Whether the home accepts the specific subsidy tier you qualify for, and what the net monthly fee is.
- Visiting hours and overnight policy. Restrictive visiting hours often correlate with what the home does not want family to see.
- Whether the home is comfortable with your parent’s religious or cultural practices (halal kitchen, vegetarian options, prayer space, Tamil-speaking staff, Mandarin-speaking staff).
6. Red flags that should rule a home out
- Refusal to disclose night staffing ratio.
- No documented procedure for medication errors.
- Pressure to sign an admission agreement on the day of visit.
- Restrictive visiting hours without clear clinical justification.
- No on-site doctor visits at least monthly (community hospital arrangement is fine; doctorless homes are not).
- Operator unwilling to share the most recent MOH inspection findings.
7. Decision: write it down before you decide
After visiting your shortlist, give each home a score across five dimensions: clinical fit, staffing quality, cost after subsidy, location for family visits, your parent’s own preference if they can express one. Decisions made on a sheet of paper are more defensible later than decisions made on gut feel, and they help align siblings who weren’t on the visit.
Frequently asked questions
How many nursing homes should we visit before deciding?
Three to five, in person. Photos and websites are not enough to judge the smell of the wards, how staff speak to residents, or the state of the bathrooms. Plan visits at different times of day; mid-morning shows day routine, late afternoon shows handover, weekends show family dynamics.
What is the single most important question to ask?
“What is your nurse-to-resident ratio at night?” Day staffing is regulated; night staffing varies widely and is where most safety incidents happen. Compare the answer across the facilities you shortlist.
Should we always pick the cheapest subsidised home?
No. Pick the home that fits your parent’s care needs, then optimise on cost. A home that is right clinically but inconvenient for family visits is usually a worse outcome than a slightly more expensive home that the family can visit weekly.
How quickly can we move them in?
Most MOH-licensed homes process admissions in 2 to 4 weeks. AIC can flag urgent cases and accelerate placement when a hospital discharge date is set.
Last fact-checked: 9 June 2026. See the latest audit report for sources and methodology.