Length of Stay

22 May 2007

Question No:  217  

Question

Name of the Person: Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo, MP for East Coast GRC

To ask the Minister for Health in the last two years, (a) what is the trend in the volume of patients in the various classes of wards staying for more than one week; and (b) whether there is an increasing trend in any of these classes of wards and, if so, what are the profiles of the patients contributing to this increase.

Reply

Reply From MOH

The number of patients staying more than a week in our acute public hospitals has increased annually. In 2005, there were 48,376 such patients, and in 2006, 49,271 patients. This was an increase of 1.9%.

The increase was expected as our population expands and ages. 

The increase was observed in all classes of wards, although it varied from 0.1% in Class C, 1.9% in Class B2, 7.0% in Class B1 to 8.1% in Class A.

However over a longer period, say between 2001 and 2006, while the overall increase was only +4%, the changes were much more varied among classes, at respectively +55% for Class C, -15% for Class B2, -31% for Class B1 and +19% for Class A. In other words, Class C accounted for the largest share of the expansion.