Short answerThe Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) groups Singapore's elderly care options into care at home (personal care, nursing, doctor and therapy visits, meals and medical escorts), care centres (day care, rehabilitation and active ageing centres) and nursing homes. They can be combined with a live-in helper: AIC suggests centre-based care on the helper's weekend days off, and nursing home respite care can cover her home leave. To apply, talk to a doctor at a hospital or polyclinic, or get help at an AIC Link.
This guide sets out the elderly care options that the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) lists, and how each one works alongside a live-in domestic helper. For hiring the helper herself, the levy concession and AIC's grants, see hiring a helper for elderly care. The care options here come only from AIC, checked on 16 Oct 2026; no provider is named, and costs vary, so check them with AIC or the provider.
Start with your parent's care needs
AIC suggests including your loved one in the decision, and its online Care Services Recommender suggests services and schemes from a few questions about their care needs. AIC also says that if formal care services are not suitable, hiring a migrant domestic worker may be a good alternative for care at home. The two can be combined:
| What your parent needs | AIC option | With a helper |
|---|---|---|
| Help with bathing, feeding, toileting or moving | Enhanced Home Personal Care | Trained staff visit by the hour or in 4-hour blocks, for example when the caregiver needs a break |
| Nursing at home, such as injections, wound dressing or feeding tubes | Home Nursing | Nurses can train caregivers to care safely |
| A doctor for someone who cannot leave home | Home Medical | The doctor can teach caregivers how to give better care |
| Supervision during the day | Day care or dementia day care | Some centres open at weekends, when a helper may be on her day off |
| A short break, or cover while the helper is on home leave | Nursing Home Respite Care | AIC names a helper's home leave as one reason to use it |
| Round-the-clock care that home cannot provide | Nursing home | Your parent moves in, so the helper's role at home changes |
Care at home
AIC lists these services that come to your home. A helper can do much of the daily care; these add trained staff for what she cannot do, or for when she needs support.
- Enhanced Home Personal Care: help with personal care (feeding, dressing, toileting, washing, moving between bed and chair), medication, simple maintenance exercises, fall monitoring and household chores. AIC says it is for people who cannot do these tasks themselves, have no caregiver, or whose caregivers need support or a break.
- Home Nursing: vital signs, medication management, injections, wound dressings and feeding tubes, and training for caregivers.
- Home Medical: a doctor visits a frail, homebound person for check-ups, prescribing medicines and minor procedures, and teaches caregivers.
- Home Therapy: physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy at home. Ask the therapist to show your helper the exercises to keep up between visits.
- Meals on Wheels: lunch and dinner delivered 7 days a week. AIC says it is for frail clients who cannot buy or prepare their own meals and have no caregiver who can prepare or deliver them.
- Medical escort and transport: transport to medical appointments, with an escort if needed, for people with no caregiver to help or whose caregiver cannot assist.
- Home Palliative Care: medical, nursing and emotional support for someone with a serious illness at home, with caregiver training. AIC says that from 1 April 2026, families who need home-based respite care apply for Enhanced Home Personal Care instead.
- Household Services Scheme: AIC describes companies that provide part-time home cleaning, grocery shopping and basic elder-minding, and says to check the worker's training and experience and to have a family member present the first time. Another family's helper cannot do this work for you; see part-time helpers.
Care centres
Centres give your parent company and care during the day, and give your helper time for other work or her rest day.
- Day care: meals, basic nursing, help with personal care, activities and exercise, for people who need supervision during the day. Selected centres offer dementia day care. AIC says these run on weekdays and some centres also open at weekends, and it suggests centre-based care during a helper's days off at weekends.
- Community rehabilitation: physiotherapy and speech therapy at a centre after a stroke, heart condition or fracture.
- Centre-based nursing: nursing procedures such as wound care, tube care and catheter care, for people who can travel to a centre.
- Active Ageing Centres: activities, befriending and help with eldercare schemes for Singapore citizens and PRs aged 60 and above; you sign up at a centre in your neighbourhood.
When your helper goes on home leave
A live-in helper is entitled to rest days and may go home on leave, so plan cover early. See home leave and public holidays.
- Nursing Home Respite Care: a short stay at selected nursing homes. AIC lists it for caregivers who need a full-time break, who need help while their domestic helper is on home leave, or who need rest at night.
- Who it is for: someone who needs help with most daily activities or has daily nursing needs, is medically stable, has a long-term care plan and plans to return home afterwards.
- Applying: get a referral from a hospital, polyclinic or GP who knows your parent, with a medical report dated within 6 months, and submit it 4 weeks before the start date. AIC lists the helper's air tickets as an example of supporting documents. Places are limited.
- Shorter cover: Enhanced Home Personal Care comes in 4-hour blocks when a caregiver needs a temporary break.
Nursing homes
A nursing home gives long-term residential care to someone who needs help with daily activities or nursing care and cannot be cared for at home, even after trying options such as day care or home care. For subsidised care you need a referral from a hospital, polyclinic or medical social worker. If your parent moves in:
- AIC's Home Caregiving Grant is only for people not living in a residential long-term care institution.
- If your helper was hired as a caregiver, the agency refund rules can differ when the person cared for moves to other care; see hiring a helper for elderly care.
A helper trained for eldercare
AIC describes an Eldercarer Migrant Domestic Worker Scheme: a helper hired under it is trained in caregiving skills, including the ageing process, monitoring vital signs, help with toileting, bathing, eating, dressing and mobility, fall prevention, medication and minor wounds, and communication. The training is 2 days in a classroom before she arrives and 3 hours on the job after. It runs through participating employment agencies that AIC lists; check any agency on MOM's directory or ours, the licensed agencies list. AIC's Caregivers Training Grant can subsidise approved courses.
How to apply, and who pays
- Referral: for most home and centre services, talk to a doctor at a hospital or polyclinic, who can apply for you. An AIC Link can also help with applications, and AIC's hotline is 1800-650-6060.
- Subsidies: AIC says your loved one must be a Singapore citizen or PR to qualify, and subsidies are means-tested on household monthly income per person at the NRIC address (or the property's annual value if there is no income).
- Help with fees: AIC suggests talking to a medical social worker at the hospital or polyclinic.
- Tell the assessor about your helper: say what she already does, so the services fill the gaps rather than repeat her work.
Sources, checked 16 Oct 2026: AIC, Knowing available care options; AIC, Care Services Recommender; AIC, Enhanced Home Personal Care; AIC, Home Nursing; AIC, Home Medical; AIC, Home Therapy; AIC, Meals on Wheels; AIC, Medical escort and transport; AIC, Home Palliative Care; AIC, Home-based Respite Care; AIC, Household Services Scheme; AIC, Day Care; AIC, Community Rehabilitation; AIC, Centre-based Nursing; AIC, Active Ageing Centres; AIC, Nursing Home; AIC, Nursing Home Respite Care; AIC, Home Caregiving Grant; AIC, Caregivers Training Grant.
Common questions
What elderly care options are there in Singapore?
AIC groups them into care at home (personal care, nursing, doctor and therapy visits, meals and medical escorts), care centres (day care, rehabilitation, centre-based nursing and active ageing centres) and nursing homes. A live-in helper can be combined with most of them.
Who looks after my parent when my helper goes home on leave?
AIC's Nursing Home Respite Care is a short stay at selected nursing homes, and AIC lists a helper's home leave as one reason to use it. Get a referral from a doctor and apply 4 weeks before; places are limited.
Can my parent go to day care on my helper's day off?
AIC says some day care centres open at weekends and suggests centre-based care during a helper's days off at weekends. Operating days vary by centre.
How do I apply for home care or day care?
Talk to a doctor at a hospital or polyclinic, who can submit the application. An AIC Link can also help, and AIC's hotline is 1800-650-6060.
Can my helper be trained in eldercare?
Yes. Under AIC's Eldercarer Migrant Domestic Worker Scheme, a helper has 2 days of classroom training before she arrives and 3 hours on the job after. AIC's Caregivers Training Grant can subsidise approved courses.
Do I still get the Home Caregiving Grant if my parent moves to a nursing home?
No. AIC says the person cared for must not be living in a residential long-term care institution.
Is there part-time help for an elderly parent?
AIC lists Household Services Scheme companies for part-time cleaning, grocery shopping and basic elder-minding, and Enhanced Home Personal Care for trained staff by the hour.
Who qualifies for subsidised elderly care?
AIC says the person must be a Singapore citizen or PR, and subsidies are means-tested on household monthly income per person. A medical social worker can help with fees.