Home care brings professional care to the patient’s home when travelling to a clinic is hard or unsafe — for frail or homebound elderly, people recovering after a hospital stay, and those with advanced illness. In Singapore these services are largely coordinated through the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), delivered by community care providers, and subsidised on a means-tested basis for eligible Citizens and PRs. They complement, rather than replace, your polyclinic and hospital. This guide explains what home care covers, who it suits, and how to arrange it.
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In a medical emergency, or for severe or sudden symptoms such as breathing difficulty, chest pain, fainting or stroke signs, call 995 immediately.
This is general information, not medical or financial advice; subsidies are means-tested and change — confirm current details with AIC (1800-650-6060). Home care is not for emergencies. For chest pain, stroke signs, severe breathlessness, uncontrolled bleeding or a serious fall, call 995 or go to the nearest A&E.
What home care covers
Home care is an umbrella term for several services delivered in the home: home medical (doctor visits), home nursing, home personal care and help, home therapy, home palliative care, and medical escort and transport, alongside supports such as Meals-on-Wheels and the Household Services Scheme. Which combination suits depends on the person’s needs, and AIC or a hospital medical social worker can help match services to the situation rather than leaving families to work it out alone.
Home medical and home nursing
Home medical brings a doctor to the home for people unable to leave it — for examinations, medication review and prescribing, managing stable chronic conditions, minor procedures and caregiver guidance. Home nursing brings a nurse for hands-on clinical care between doctor visits: wound dressing, injections, feeding-tube or stoma care, monitoring of vital signs such as blood pressure and blood sugar, medication management, and training for the family caregiver. Many patients use both — the doctor sets the plan, the nurse carries out the ongoing care.
Home personal care and help
Enhanced Home Personal Care provides help with daily and personal care at home — bathing, dressing and toileting — along with medication reminders, simple prescribed exercises, fall monitoring, and light housekeeping such as cleaning and laundry. It suits seniors who struggle with everyday tasks, those without a caregiver at home, and families who need some respite. This service now also absorbs home-based respite needs, so it is often the route to a planned break as well as to day-to-day help.
Home therapy
Home therapy delivers rehabilitation in the home for people who find it hard to travel. Physiotherapy works on mobility, strength and pain; occupational therapy helps a person relearn everyday tasks such as dressing or cooking and adapts the home; and speech therapy helps with speaking, communication and safe swallowing. It is commonly used by frail or homebound seniors and by those recovering after a stroke or a hospital stay, helping people regain independence where they live.
Home palliative care
Home palliative or hospice care supports people with a serious, life-limiting illness — such as advanced cancer or advanced dementia — who are homebound. It focuses on comfort, pain and symptom management, emotional support for the patient and family, advance care planning, clinical availability when needed, and bereavement support. Palliative care is about living as well as possible with a serious illness, not about giving up, and it can be provided alongside other treatment the person is receiving.
Medical escort and transport
Medical escort and transport provides accessible transport to and from medical appointments, with a trained escort to help the patient move and navigate the visit. It suits people with mobility challenges or those without an available caregiver to accompany them. For families juggling work and care, it can be the practical difference between a loved one making an important appointment and missing it.
How to arrange it and how it fits in
There are a few routes in. If the person is in hospital, ask the ward’s medical social worker or discharge planner to set up home services before discharge. Otherwise, ask a polyclinic or hospital doctor, or a GP, to submit the online application, or visit an AIC Link office; you can also call AIC on 1800-650-6060 or use the Care Services Recommender to match services. Subsidies for eligible Citizens and PRs are means-tested — a medical social worker can advise on fee support, and households can self-check via the MediShield Life Household Check. Importantly, home care wraps around your polyclinic and hospital care rather than replacing it: it handles day-to-day care and monitoring at home while your doctors continue diagnosis, specialist treatment and follow-up. After a hospital stay, watch for warning signs that need escalation — a high fever, a wound that is spreading, red or discharging, sudden confusion, new severe pain or breathlessness, or a swollen, painful leg — and seek a doctor or A&E, calling 995 in an emergency. The reassuring bottom line is that a well-coordinated set of home services can keep someone cared for, safely and with dignity, in the place they most want to be — their own home.
Related healthcare navigation topics
- Preparing for a doctor’s appointment
- Understanding medical referrals
- What to expect at a specialist appointment
- Getting a second opinion
- Telemedicine in Singapore
- Accessing your medical records
- Public vs private healthcare
- Patient rights & responsibilities
- Caregiver support in Singapore
- GP clinics in Singapore
- Medical concierge & care navigation
Sources
- AIC — Care services (home care): aic.sg
- AIC — Home medical & home nursing: aic.sg
- MOH — Schemes and subsidies: moh.gov.sg