Patients face long wait in emergency departments amid bed shortage

Hospital staff say situation has worsened this year with spike in Covid-19 cases

- Salma Khalik

The bed crunch in public hospitals is so severe that it has spilled over to their emergency departments, many of which stay packed with patients because there is no room to move them elsewhere.

Emergency department (ED) doctors say there are days when the situation is so bad that an arriving ambulance is unable to discharge the patient for lack of space. Instead, the medical team has to assess patients while they are on the ambulance trolley.

Those who are in critical condition are treated immediately. Others might have to wait for 15 to 30 minutes for space to be found so that they can be offloaded and the ambulance can leave.

This also holds up the ambulance, which might be urgently needed by another critically ill patient.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force, which runs the emergency ambulance service, said there has been a 32 percent increase in calls in the first half of 2022 over the same period the previous year, of which 93 percent were real emergencies.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said hospitals will mitigate the situation during peak congestion periods through measures such as adding more beds to wards and creating holding spaces in EDs. At least one hospital has converted a consultation room to hold patients in recliner chairs when it is short of beds.

The Straits Times spoke to several ED doctors and nurses who asked that they and their hospitals not be identified. They said the problem has been around for years, but has become worse this year, partly on account of the surge in Covid-19 cases.