Longer waiting times at hospital A&E departments likely due to post-public holiday surge
SINGAPORE – The high volume of patients at several hospitals' emergency departments (EDs) this week, which has resulted in longer waiting times, is likely due to a post-public holiday surge in demand.
In response to media queries, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on May 16 that acute hospitals can experience higher attendance at their EDs during specific times of the year, and that the current rise in wait times at hospitals is consistent with the typical post-public holiday surge.
On May 14 , Changi General Hospital (CGH) and Sengkang General Hospital (SKH) announced in separate Facebook posts that they have been seeing a high volume of patients at their EDs.
MOH said that in spite of the increased patient numbers at the ED, hospitals will maintain prompt triage procedures to quickly identify those with critical medical conditions. This ensures that such patients are attended to urgently and patient care is not compromised.
For patients awaiting admission at the ED, inpatient teams will also be activated to begin treatment to prevent delays in care.
Patients may be transferred to other hospitals for further treatment in some cases, MOH added.
Hospitals told ST that their EDs are still crowded amid a rise in Covid-19 cases. Between April 27 and May 3, 14,200 Covid-19 cases were recorded, an increase from 11,100 the previous week.
CGH said that although the surge in patient volume is likely due to the post-public holiday period, there has also been a rise in the number of Covid-19 patients at the hospital over the past month.
Some of the patients, including seniors, were admitted for other medical conditions and later found to be Covid-19 positive.
SKH told ST that its recent increase in patient volume is in line with the typical post-public holiday surge, with most cases unrelated to Covid-19.
The National University Health System (NUHS) and its hospitals – National University Hospital, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, and Alexandra Hospital – said the surge is consistent with the increase in patients observed during the post-holiday period in previous years.
NUHS added that it did not 'notice any unusual patterns of illnesses'.
To manage longer waiting times at EDs, CGH and SKH said that patients who are awaiting a bed in the ED are triaged so that those who are more ill and who require close monitoring will get a bed more quickly based on acuity and priority.
NUHS said it would redeploy and increase its manpower as needed to better support the high number of patients at its EDs.
Its triage process includes having a senior emergency physician review the cases for admission to hospital, to ensure right-siting and avoid unnecessary admission.
MOH and the hospitals have also urged the public to visit the ED only for serious or life-threatening emergencies. Those experiencing mild to moderate symptoms like cough, sore throat or runny nose should go to general practitioners or a polyclinic.
The ministry also said that hospitals may admit suitable patients to Mobile Inpatient Care at Home (MIC@Home), and transfer medically stable patients to community hospitals, transitional care facilities and other community facilities or services to manage bed occupancy.
The MIC@Home programme allows teams of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals to care for suitable patients in the comfort of their own homes through a combination of teleconsultations and home visits.
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