Tracking of Waiting Time for Admissions to A&E Departments of Public Hospitals

Mr Chen Show Mao asked the Minister for Health in respect of accident and emergency departments of public hospitals (a) in addition to the median waiting time for admissions to wards, whether the 95th percentile waiting time for admissions is tracked; (b) what waiting times for registration and consultation are tracked; (c) what an acceptable waiting time should be for registration, consultation and admission to ward; and (d) whether these waiting times can be released on a weekly basis in addition to median waiting time for admissions.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Patients who arrive at the Emergency Departments (EDs) are prioritised and attended to based on the severity of their conditions. All life-threatening (P1) cases are attended to immediately.

For emergency but less life-threatening cases (P2), the median waiting times and 95th percentile waiting times for consultation are tracked on a monthly basis and they averaged about 24 minutes and 80 minutes respectively. Time taken for admission ranged from 2.6 hours at the median and 9.6 hours at the 95th percentile. Even before admission, medical teams will monitor the patients and institute appropriate investigations and treatments for them.

As ED admissions can vary significantly from week to week, due to seasonal and other factors, such as multiple casualties in a traffic accident, it is more meaningful to study monthly trends.

Our hospitals have put in place protocols to ensure care is not compromised despite high demand for ED services. At all shifts, the EDs are staffed by at least one senior doctor, working alongside a team of other doctors and ED-trained nurses. Our hospitals also deploy inpatient medical teams to initiate prompt medical assessment and definitive care at the ED, for patients who are awaiting admission. We have also stepped up efforts to encourage patients to visit general practitioners (GPs) for non-emergency conditions, so that our EDs can focus their resources on those who really need emergency services. One example is the GPFirst initiative launched in January this year, where the Eastern Health Alliance works with GPs in the east to educate and encourage the public to tap on GPs to manage non-emergency cases.