Change in Average and Median Nurse-to-patient Ratio for General Wards and Intensive Care Units of Public Acute Hospitals in Past Three Years

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Health for each year in the past three years, what is the change in the average and median nurse-to-patient ratio for (i) general wards and (ii) intensive care units of the public acute hospitals.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: As shared in an earlier answer in 2022, the average nurse-to-patient ratio for general wards in the public acute hospitals remains unchanged at around one nurse for every four or five patients. [Please refer to "Nurse-to-patient Ratio and Efforts to Reduce Nurses' Administrative Workload", Official Report, 2 August 2022, Vol 95, Issue 66, Oral Answers to Questions section.]

In the Intensive Care Units (ICU), the ratio is higher at about one to two nurses for every ICU patient, depending on the complexity of each case.