Singapore’s health minister has launched a review into Vanguard Healthcare after an elderly woman fell in her flat and was unable to raise emergency support. 

The Ministry of Health (MOH) in Singapore will investigate Vanguard Healthcare, which operates five nursing homes in the country, after an 85-year-old woman who fell and hurt her hip in a flat in Harmony Village @ Bukit Batok was unable to raise emergency help. 

Although Vanguard provides community and home care support rather than clinical or medical services – which means it is not regulated under the Healthcare Services Act – service level agreements mean that there is a requirement for a 24/7 emergency response. 

In a written parliamentary response, health minister Ong Ye Kung apologised to the resident and her family. 

Following this incident, MOH has directed Vanguard to conduct a formal root cause analysis. The minister said that Vanguard has almost completed all checks on emergency call buttons in the community care apartments and had engaged an independent consultant to conduct a thorough review of the incident and its emergency response arrangements. 

“MOH will review the full findings when they are available. We will establish what went wrong, including whether there were shortcomings in the equipment, operating procedures, response arrangements or oversight,” he said. 

Ong went on to say that where mistakes are established, Vanguard would be required to remedy them and implement the necessary improvement measures. 

“This will include considering whether more specific service standards, additional independent assurance or systemwide reporting requirements are needed. We will strengthen the arrangements where necessary,” he said. 

Vanguard Healthcare is a wholly owned subsidiary of MOH Holdings.