Bed Shortage

03 Mar 2010

Question No:  338   

Question

Name of the Person: Mdm Halimah Yacob

To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the average waiting time for beds in the public hospitals for both emergency and non-emergency cases; (b) what measures are being taken to address the problem of bed shortage; and (c) whether the bed crunch in public hospitals has affected the quality of care for patients

Reply

Reply From MOH

1 Our Emergency Departments attend to all life-threatening cases immediately.  There is no waiting for such patients.

2 For non-emergency cases which require admission, their waiting time for a bed will depend on the hospital they visit.  Overall, we have sufficient beds but there are mismatches on certain days, like mondays and tuesdays, resulting in some patients having to wait for a bed longer than we desire.

3 To address the problem, we have added new hospital beds over the years, while building the new Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and planning the new Jurong General Hospital.   This has provided some relief.

4 This January, for example, the average bed occupancy rate was 82%, ranging from 74% at Alexandra Hospital, 81% at Singapore General Hospital to 89% at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH).  The average bed occupancy rate went down to 77% in February as patients avoided hospitalisation during the Chinese New Year.  With the end of the festivity, elective admissions have returned.  So last week we were heavily stressed.

5 Among the hospitals, TTSH has the highest number of admissions from its Emergency Department.  This is because it serves a large population catchment, both from the north and the central part of Singapore.

6 Nonetheless, most patients do not have to wait long.  At TTSH, half of the emergency department admissions in Jan were admitted to their assigned wards within 2 hours.  Another 35% of patients waited 2 to 4 hours.  But 5% of patients had to wait more than 8 hours. 

7 In order to relieve the overcrowding in TTSH, the other hospitals have chipped in, to handle the overflows of ambulance cases and admissions.  This has in turn spread the problem to them, especially to CGH which, had a bed occupancy rate of 91% last week.  So we are all eagerly awaiting the opening of the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital later this year.  That will add 555 beds to our capacity. 

8. The shortage of beds on certain days of the week has a significant impact on customer service.  Patients would naturally like to be admitted to and be able to get settled down in their preferred ward immediately.  Our failure to do so for some patients who have to wait a few hours for this to happen is unsatisfactory.  We are sorry for this lapse in service level.

9 However, the clinical care for such patients is never compromised.  When patients are waiting to be admitted, they continue to receive the appropriate care.  Their doctors would assess the patients, order the necessary tests and initiate the appropriate treatment immediately.