SINGAPORE: Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong in a written reply to Parliament said public hospitals adopt a multi-pronged strategy to actively manage patient loads and bed occupancy.
Mr Gan was replying to Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC, Associate Prof Fatimah Lateef.
She asked Mr Gan how are overcrowding and high bed occupancy rates handled in the restructured hospitals.
Mr Gan said the multi-pronged strategy includes right-siting care, active intervention to safeguard patient safety during the wait for admission and optimising the use of resources.
To right-site care, hospitals review and discharge patients who are medically stable to allow new patients to be admitted.
For patients waiting at the emergency departments for admission, hospitals deploy inpatient medical teams to initiate prompt medical assessment and definitive care at the emergency department.
To optimise the use of resources, subsidised patients may be placed in private wards for a short duration if subsidised wards are full and these patients continue to pay subsidised rates.
Some stable patients are also transferred, with their consent, to hospitals with higher available capacity to help spread the load across the system.
The Health Ministry is also working with existing institutions to add capacity in the short term.
In addition, hospitals also tap on the capacity in the private sector to meet their needs.
- CNA/fa
Public hospitals adopt multi-pronged strategy to avoid overcrowding
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Public hospitals adopt multi-pronged strategy to avoid overcrowding
