Data on Restructured Hospitals Diverting Patients Away Due to Full Capacity and Days with Waiting Times of over Two Hours in Last Three Months
Ministry of HealthSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns hospital capacity and waiting times at emergency departments (EDs) during the recent pandemic period. Ms He Ting Ru asked for data on patient diversions and the number of days EDs saw waiting times exceeding two, four, and six hours before triage. Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung stated that SCDF ambulances were diverted seven times from CGH, KTPH, and SKH to manage non-critical patient loads. He clarified that triage usually occurs within 30 minutes of registration, with diversions lasting between two and six hours to ensure critical care availability. The Minister highlighted that while waiting times for clinical consultation vary by condition, critically ill patients are attended to almost immediately.
Transcript
18 Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Health regarding the capacity of restructured hospitals in the last three months (a) for how many days did the emergency departments of each restructured hospital have to close or divert patients away due to its capacity being reached; (b) which hospitals or departments have been particularly badly hit; and (c) how many days have the respective emergency departments of these hospitals seen waiting times of over (i) two hours (ii) four hours and (iii) six hours, before patients could be triaged.
Mr Ong Ye Kung: In the last three months, Singapore went through a severe pandemic crisis. It is a global crisis that affects all countries and regions. Fortunately, our population is highly vaccinated. Hence, COVID-19 infections have not translated into many cases with severe illness and our ICU wards did not come under pressure.
It has been the hospital Emergency Departments (ED) that are most busy. During that time, MOH had approved the diversion of SCDF ambulances on seven different occasions from three hospitals (CGH, KTPH and SKH). We are able to do so because the conditions of the patients were non-critical. This helped hospitals manage their capacity at the EDs, so that patients with critical conditions can be attended to quickly. The duration of diversions varied, ranging from two hours to six hours.
All patients presenting at EDs are triaged at registration, usually within half an hour, to determine the level of priority for emergency treatment. Their waiting times for clinical consultation varies, depending on the clinical condition of the patient. Critically ill patients are seen almost immediately.