Making Affordable Healthcare More Accessible To Singaporeans

14 Sep 2001

The Ministry of Health has reviewed the provision of Class C beds in public sector hospitals to make Class C beds more accessible to lower income Singaporeans.

Review Provision of Class C beds

Early this year, the Ministry of Health reviewed the supply of Class C beds in our public sector hospitals. Public sector hospitals offer a range of wards to meet different needs. A comparison of the ward classes is at  Annex A (7.93 KB). In Year 2000, 72% of beds in our hospitals are B2+, B2 and C, higher than the 65% set in the 1993 White Paper on Affordable Health Care. Class C beds are also available in every hospital, to serve the most needy Singaporeans. In Year 2000, 27% of total public sector beds are Class C.

While the provision of Class C beds is generally adequate, the Ministry has decided to implement two changes to make Class C beds more accessible to lower income Singaporeans.

Class C Beds for Every Speciality

While there are Class C beds in every hospital, the hospital practice previously had been to put patients with the same condition in the same B2 ward for some of the more specialised conditions to facilitate better management and greater professional efficiency.

The Ministry of Health decided in May 2001 that all public sector hospitals should try to provide Class C beds for all medical conditions. Between May and September 2001, hospitals without Class C beds for certain specialities have progressively re-structured their work processes to allow patients with different conditions to share the same Class C ward. Doctors, nurses and support staff now have to provide care in different wards as patients are split up based on their choice of ward class. Although this imposes additional burden on the staff, the Ministry has decided on the change so that all Singaporeans have access to Class C beds. But in exceptional situations, for example, in the burns unit, we may still have to retain the previous practice for operational reasons.

Class C beds could be full in some hospitals on days when demand is particularly high. In such situations, patients who have already been scheduled for admission would be lodged in a higher ward class but need only pay Class C rates. But they would have to be prepared for transfer to Class C when a Class C bed is subsequently available. Should they decide to opt for a higher ward class to avoid the need for future transfer, they would have to pay the higher rates instead.

More Class C beds for SGH and NUH

Today, Class C beds are adequately provided in most of the hospitals. But they constitute 12% and 8% of total beds in Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and National University Hospital (NUH) respectively. With the Ministry's new direction to provide Class C beds for all medical conditions, the two hospitals have conducted a review and would convert their wards to provide more Class C beds to meet the anticipated additional demand. SGH will be converting Ward 64 into a Class C ward. This would create an additional 100 Class C beds, a 75% increase over its current 134 beds. NUH would convert 65 B2+ bedsto create an additional 96 Class C beds, a 170% increase over its current 56 Class C beds. The proportion of Class C beds in both hospitals would increase to 21% as a result. Ward conversion in the two hospitals would be completed in six months' time.

Affordable healthcare for Singaporeans

The Ministry has implemented the two changes to make affordable healthcare more accessible to Singaporeans.