Elderly woman had been complaining of abuse for 3 years
The man who had secretly recorded his mother's abuse at Nightingale Nursing Centre revealed that he did so in response to her complaints about their treatment.
The 41-year-old, who identified himself as Mr Zhuo, told Shin Min Daily that of the four years his mother, Madam Bai, had stayed at the home, she had been complaining to him for about three years. This triggered his decision to place a hidden video camera disguised as a clock by his mother's bed at the home.
The resulting footage obtained was recorded in March and handed to MediaCorp Channel 8, before it was sent to the Ministry of Health (MOH) on 22 March.
Describing the recording, Zhuo said, "I saw that two nurses were helping my mother take a bath. They took off my mother's clothes and left her sitting in a chair for half an hour. In this time, a fan was blowing in her direction."
He added that from his observation, the nurses did not help Madam Bai put her clothes back on after her bath.
"Now I know why my mother is always saying she is cold in the mornings," he said.
However, more abuse cases have since been revealed.
At the Irene Nursing home and Serene Nursing Home, owner Irene Ong told The New Paper that she fired three foreign nursing staff from her centres over the past two years over incidents of abuse.
Ong said that she was informed by other employees that the staff members in question had been hitting the patients under their care in separate cases.
Having installed a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera system to monitor her staff and patients in both her nursing homes, Ong was able to check the recorded footage for evidence to confirm the reports.
She also said that she had reported one of the incidents to the authorities, but decided to take matters into her own hands.
"We really pity the patients," she said. "It is just not right to physically abuse them."
At the same time, she and other nursing home caretakers also shared that the challenge of looking after the elderly is significant, and can at times be frustrating for foreign staff who are usually not able to understand dialects, often the only languages spoken by elderly patients.
Ong, for example, told the same paper that she hires staff from Myanmar and the Philippines because she is unable to find any Singaporeans to take up the job.
Moreover, patients with dementia add a new dimension of difficulty for staff administering to them.
Nurse manager Jacqueline Voon, 40, from privately-run Paean Nursing Home, emphasised the need for particular patience when dealing with patients who have dementia.
"The difficulty is that they make a lot of noise and disturb (other patients)," she said. "If it gets out of hand, then we will refer (the patient) to the doctor to increase the dosage of their medication."
She also said that Paean takes preventive measures to handle abusive patients, such as ensuring that they do not have access to sharp objects.
Windsor Convalescent Home manager Maggie Ng, 55, added that her home has seen many cases of patients who punch and use their walking sticks to beat staff. Her employees often have no protection against such incidents as the patients often attack without warning.
Other elderly healthcare practitioners say that nursing staff need to be properly trained to deal with elderly patients, especially those with mental health issues.
Ng Wai Chong, 42, assistant director at the Tsao Foundation's Hua Mei Mobile Clinic, said, "Perhaps we need to take another look at our strategy in the long run for community care so that families don't have to send as many people to nursing homes."
The MOH said it conducts regular inspections of all nursing homes to ensure compliance with its mandatory licensing requirements.
Its inspectors check that the homes are properly maintained, keep their patient records in order and have effective infection control measures in place, among other factors.
Home operators are also pitted against care standards on medication administration, fall rates and housekeeping.
The ministry subjects homes that do not meet these standards to more regular audits, and provides guidance to them to improve their performance.
For reports of breach in care delivery or standards, the public can call the MOH hotline at 1800-225 4122.
