Ageing without worry: Some lessons from Australia

People want to age at home, but let’s make sure that all Singaporeans also have access to quality residential care.

- Chua Mui Hoong

Australia's experience highlights the need to ensure both home care and residential care are well provided for, says the writer. Only 15 per cent of people receiving aged care are in residential care, while the other 85 per cent receive care at home and in the community. PHOTO: UNSPLASH

(UNSPLASH)

As a Singaporean now living in Australia, I am often conflicted about where | will live out my final years. In Australia? Or in Singapore, where I grew up and where I have a wider support network? I could have subsidised home care or hire a domestic helper, but without my own children that would still feel lonely. This is where assisted living options hold appeal, with their promise of help at hand.

So, I read with interest the recent news report about a new assisted living development for seniors in Singapore.

The project by Perennial Holdings, a real estate company that runs eldercare and medical care services in China, promises luxury suites with private bathrooms and personalised care integrating Western and traditional Chinese medicine.

The catch: It costs $8,000 to $13,600 a month, depending on the size of the unit.

But as a long-term resident in Australia married to an Australian citizen, I also have options to age in Perth. Here, I would have access to a range of home-based care at subsidised rates.

I can also move into “retirement housing” which offers those over 55 cheaper housing with special lease arrangements, and access to social amenities. If I get frailer, 1 can move into residential care, or nursing homes, where fees are means-tested.

As a married woman, I also have to consider what my partner would like. Our lifestyle in Perth revolves around animals, the garden and the outdoors. It would be hard to adapt to life ina densely packed city.