SINGAPORE – Since opening its doors in May, an integrated psychiatric facility in Hougang has admitted 151 long-stay residents from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) into its nursing home.
Another 14 patients have been placed into another home under the same roof that offers independent support.
The hub marks the latest step in Singapore’s ongoing efforts to shift long-term psychiatric care into community-based settings.
Operated by Vanguard Healthcare, the site in Lorong Napiri houses three complementary services: a 257-bed care home providing round-the-clock nursing care, a 48-bed home focused on building independent living and vocational skills, and a day care centre scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2027.
“We need a continuum of care, with different settings providing different levels of support as a person’s needs change. And the demand for the broad middle will grow as existing patients age,” said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung at the official opening of Vanguard Healthcare’s Hougang facility on Oct 5.
Vanguard Healthcare was established by MOH as a public operator to test out new care models. It offers a new model that co-locates a nursing home and a rehabilitation home for mental health, so patients can transit more easily between the two homes, if their needs evolve, Ong said.
For decades, IMH has served as a sanctuary for individuals navigating severe psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder.
Yet, for a significant portion of its residents, many of whom lack home or social support, IMH has evolved into something far more permanent – a place to grow old.
Inside the nearly 2,000-bed facility, long-term stays stretching past 10 or even 20 years have turned wards into living quarters. However, those on long-term stay are getting older, with the median age at 58, and 83 patients are already aged 70 and above, Ong said.
For many of these patients, their conditions have stabilised and they get agitated less frequently, as they become more frail and cognitively weaker.
As they require more supervision, nursing care and assistance with daily living, rather than acute psychiatric care, Singapore has already started to “right-site” them, for instance, in step-down residential facilities that are more home-like, such as Sunlove and St Andrew’s Nursing Home.
There, patients can continue to receive nursing care and support, while participating in rehabilitation and daily activities that help them regain skills, confidence and independence, Ong said.
This experience demonstrated that mental health care cannot consist only of hospitals at one end and independent living at the other, but must also have support in the community to bridge the gap, he said.
The Vanguard Care Home, which started to provide nursing care in May, comprises residents with chronic but stable psychiatric conditions.
There is no age requirement, although such patients tend to be older. It said it has a bed capacity of 257 and will take in more residents progressively over the next months.
The Vanguard Compass Home, which focuses on rehabilitation and recovery for those with moderately stable mental health conditions who aim to reintegrate into the community, opened in July, with a bed capacity of 48.
Here, clients share living and dining spaces, and are encouraged to take part in daily routines such as washing their own laundry, preparing simple meals for themselves, managing their own medication, and interacting with others in the community, said Vanguard Healthcare CEO Chan Wei Ling.
They also get help with job matching if they express an interest in work. So far, two clients have found jobs as dishwashers in the neighbourhood, she said.
A third Compass Home client Tan Soh Ghim, 65, also found work a month ago, at a fast-food restaurant.
Compass Home client Tan Soh Ghim found work a month ago, at a fast-food restaurant.
ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
Tan, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and admitted to IMH in early 2026 after she had a mental breakdown, transferred from its rehabilitation programme in August. Her plan is to move to her two-room flexi flat in about a year’s time when it is ready.
Vanguard Healthcare, which was originally set up to run government-operated nursing homes, also manages several other integrated care facilities in Singapore, including the Woodlands Care Home and Senja Care Home.
