Why Some Hospital Patients Wait Hours For A Bed: What Can Be Done? | Talking Point | Full Episode 

Hey guys! I was the one who waited for 10 hrs to get a bed. I had an episode of seizure and was checked into the a&e that night. Yes it is a long wait for sure but the nurses and staffs are really trying their best to accommodate to everyone to the best of their capabilities. They are very overwhelmed but they still do their best to assist everyone. So while it can be frustrating to wait for a bed, but pls be kind to the nurses and staffs 🙏🏻

Finallyyyy! I worked in hospital before and things will get annoyed when nok complaint waiting time and when will he/she get a bed. Stress with the calls and other tasks + forever lack of manpower. Manpower is also a serious issue here. Imagine each of the department doesn’t have enough staffs.. things get delayed and the workloads goes to the one on duty. Not hospital don’t hire, just that no one really want to work in that environment. Really need patience to work in healthcare.

There are many issues, staffing of nurses, the work routine of the morning shift nurses, the multi discipline patients in a single ward where different patients are under different consultants and teams and disclipline. The different caregiver issues where some are unable to fetch their family member home, or patient has no family member at all. It's easy for bed management to look at their computer screens and also when non supportive supervisors in the ward chasing after staff to push ambulant pending discharge patients to the 'discharge lounge'. Yes it helps the system, but it does not help the staff whom are busy with the morning routines and it is not like the staffing of the ward is wonderful, where they are sitting down and waiting for patients to arrive, but instead rushing helter skelter to answer bells and patients needs. How many nursing staff did not go for a toilet break or even their tea breaks? Countless... Burnt out and disillusioned, many have left the industry and some graduating nursing students end up joining another industry!

I was admitted to hospital for having abscess on my left upper thigh and I had to wait for nearly 6 hours at Ng Teng Fong hospital. Though it was a long wait, I did not complain whatsoever. I have respect for doctors and nurses

I think also need to raise awareness of primary and secondary prevention of chronic diseases. Eg lifestyle changes dietary and exercise for our diabetics and hypertensive population, cessation of smoking etc. Less people with heart attacks, stroke, vascular problems, respiratory issues. These will reduce the 'inflows' into the hospital and eventually help with the bed situation of the hospitals

I think this is going to be a challenging one, families want the best for their loved ones with the least amount of inconvenience, and hospitalization with healthcare monitoring is much desired for most. With the bed,l human and logistical and coordination challengers (tests, exams, medication collection) its not going to be easy. I do think getting healthcare at home sounds really appealing, elderly typically dont like to stay in hospital take for example, my grandpa who is 91 in age was hospitalised but always demanded to go home. If this can scale where healthcare professionals can minimise travelling, covering a region of their convenience, that might bring potential costs down. Home caregiving is also a challenge in a family that is cash strapped and commitment to work is mandatory, letting the patient rest alone at home can be a challenge. caretaking leave might help for one off cases, but for prolonged medical attention, again, another challenge. ALL - BED CONDITIONS WILL NOT GO AWAY AND MOST LIKELY WILL GET WORSE IN THE FUTURE. MY WISH FOR ALL OF YOU IS YOU STAY HEALTHY - EAT WELL, EXCERCISE, SAVE YOURSELF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL PAIN - WE ALL DESERVE TO LIVE HEALTHY AND FRUITFUL LIVES.

Mandating more flexibility for working adults to provide caregiving for the ageing parents can work. However, knowing that the Gov is pro-business, I'm sure we will see workplace discrimination for caregivers, similar to mothers. I feel the most we will ever see is a bunch of "shoulds" and "encouraged to-s" addressed to the employers*, from the Gov.

I went to a polyclinic to see doctor. They turned me down straightaway without even seeing a doctor yet. Their reason, the number for the morning session are all given out. They ask me to come back in the afternoon to try to get a number. I could not even get a number to wait, the only choice is to come back in the afternoon to try to get a number.

I was at TTSH earlier this year, waited for 24hr in the A&E treatment room, and all I got was a corridor bed. By the 5th day I was discharged and still haven't gotten my ward bed.

these are the issues every where in the world .... more hospital , more patient , but less healthcare worker .... that why stay healthy is important

Kena terrible food poisoning last year and not have ward for about 40hours... then i gave up ward and insist on go home because the experience was terrible there.

Encourage people to eat healthy from young. When old get less health problem. Hence avoid hospitalization. Does school teaches what food is consider healthy in the long term and what are the consequence when health worsen during old age?

I am in Ontario, Canada. You people don’t know how lucky you are. In Ontario, you may have to wait in the emergency room for 7 hours before you see a doctor.

Thanks for your video, when i stayed in Mount Elizabeth Hospital, they said i had to discharge the room exactly 2 hours after surgery and immediately told me about the extra fees per every 10 minutes of overstayed…i do believe NHS it’s much slower to take that kind of decisions because they still are more a hospital than a making money machine like Mount Elizabeth Hospital is…

In the meantime SG is proud that it spends way less on healthcare (as a percentage of GDP) compared to OECD countries 😅😅

A lot of parent dumping in the hospital because cheaper than getting helper / send to nursing home. Hospital full of old people treating nurses like air stewardess.

Everyone is missing the point here. It mentioned that the waiting time also includes waiting to see the doctor. Until this is being resolve the waiting time will also be long

I got admitted to ngtfh on wednesday evening. Finally on friday morning got admittted to day surgery for kidney stone removal.😢. But i love those nurses. Nurse are angels.❤

SG already crowded & not enough space to build more hospital? imagine if 10 million in a tiny island. And if GST 10%, how to eat healthy? All imported, mostly processed food, etc. Even if the young now are healthy, 30 to 40 years later, how? not enough nursing home?

Honestly this is a super interesting episode!

*Well done CNA Insider and Steven for this excellent documentary production the fact is just few months ago I was in the A&E department of a most famous hopsital here lying on the bed at waiting bay to be warded and I waited close to 2 days then finally was assigned a bed and that was such a horrible experience cos I was not able to shower and the food was bad and thats why I dread going to the hospital and as population growing and also ageing we need more efficient health system operation here*

In parts of Australia and other developed countries, patients wait for months for a bed, not hours! Count yourself lucky!

I sat in an emergency room with my partner for over 10hrs from 8plus p.m until the next morning at 9plus a.m after his traffic accident, waiting to be treated for his triple-fracture suffered on his collarbone (found out after x-ray). He had no obvious deep wounds so we were largely treated as a less severe case - he nearly fainted from the pain after trembling throughout the wait even though strong painkillers were administered. It's plain cruelty in my opinion and he was trying his best not to even whimper from the pain but I've never seen him in such agony and that experience was just plain horrid. He was pressured to check out just on the 2nd day after ops as they were "in urgent need of a bed" even though he was immobile from the extreme pain. Triple fracture + bone splinters is no joke but the hospital thinks it's more important to vacate his bed I guess. Took me an hour just to escort him slowly from his ward to the taxi stand and he howled in pain throughout the trip home with each bump the car took on the road. Most horrible experience ever.

Yeah.... Younger patient they send home faster and state that hospital is not really sterile and better for me to recuperate at home. My chest was cracked open during surgery but I was only hospitalized for 3 days. Even my husband is shocked thinking shouldn't I be at least in hospital for a week. It's NUH.

The issue is not just with numbers. The doctors are not triaging patients well. They are admitting patients who do not need to be admitted. There are also more sick patients because the population is getting more stressed and poor people flood to hospitals instead of GPs because you can avoid paying hospital bills on the spot and just owe money. It’s the C class wards that are always flooded. There’s also too much paperwork and inefficiency within the hospital system and departments, so a lot of time is wasted. The management needs to be overhauled instead of pushing the work down to the working staff.

It sounds like Singapore is facing a health crisis.

This is real. We were told (ca 9pm) that we need to wait until 11am next day when some patients discharge to get a bed. By luck we got it within 4 hours, this was last year November ⅔¹¹⅔

Well, there is Woodlands Health Campus opening soon.

Ma dad is 76 years old and waited 2 days. I don’t understand why building more hospitals is not the solution? It IS the solution! The whole Singapore is not going there for staycation.

I couldn’t remember this happening in u.s.a., waiting for a hospital bed, only in other countries.

No joke sia. I had fever and my right adornment was having a pulsating pain. After xray n blood test confirm my appendix was infected and told if it gets worse might need an emergency op. Told no wards empty so put me in one of those roller beds and park me outside under a tent in the carpark for around 10 hours. At night they push me into a ward and told me none of the rooms available so they left me along the corridor of the ward. At the end of day 2 then they finally roll me into a ward. After I got discharged I looked at my hosp bill and the cheek of them to fully charge me for all the days I stayed in the hospital even thou they have no ward for me for the first 2 days.

some patients insist to be admitted despite their illness can be manageable at home

20 years ago, almost all chinese parents want their kids to be doctor. Only in adulthood then i see how depressing the healthcare environment is a place to work.. Doctor is a nice name to have but not a nice position to work as.

The greying population is hugely subsidise by the govt and this drive the behaviour towards govt restructure hospitals. This leave less beds as this elderly group tend to stay longer than the young ones. That's why need to buy insurance that can cover private hospitals. Cause no subsidies are provided in private hospitals and nurses and doc in rivate hospitals is able to give more care and attention to the patients. I'm not advocating everyone going for private but with such trends, private hospitals need to be consider seriously if anyone admitted into hospitals.

So in a nutshell There is no solution at all for the waiting game. Guess we all just had to deal with it yeah, It quite funny that all talking point videos always ends up with no solution at all and just simply use life hacks to make it a little more efficient for us lol.

I think a problem also is unnecessary warding of ppl. I went to the hospital cos of overdose scare, turns out everything in normal levels. But i was still admitted to a ward, and have to pay a lot of unnecessary stuff like day charge etc;. I think they should also let ppl go home if its not a serious issue.

Hi CNA Insider. Yet another insightful episode produced. Several people were interviewed in this episode. In chronological order - members of public, Dr Jason Yap, Prof David Matchar, Sai Aung Lin, Jeremy Lee, MDT (including Dr Jonathan Ong and APN Lucinda Tay), Dr Stephanie Ko and Dr Jeremy Lim. I noticed that not all interviewees had subtitles - there were none for Prof Matchar, Dr Ko and Dr Lim. The MDT discussion had subtitles, but not the interview with Dr Ong and APN Tay. Was there any underlying reasoning behind this inconsistency? I personally felt all interviewees' spoken English were fluent, albeit with varying degrees of accent. If subtitles were for accessibility (i.e. hard-of-hearing audiences), shouldn't subtitles be added on for all interviewees, and even the host? 🤔 The procedure Dr Lim used as an example at the end was laparoscopic cholecystectomy for removal of gallbladder. Yet, the diagram pinned to the whiteboard, right beside Steve's face, was depicting uterine artery embolisation which is for removal of uterine fibroids. The diagram was also present on the table when Dr Lim was sat down. Was the diagram meant to be relevant to the scenario, or was it used more as a prop for the scene? 😄 Dr Lim wrote stuff down on the whiteboard in blue ink (with a blue marker) and was constantly gesturing with a whiteboard marker in his hand. Throughout the ~4 minutes, however, the marker colour was constantly changing between black and blue. This is despite Dr Lim not writing anything in black - at least nothing that was shown on the board. Was this an inadvertent lack in continuity, or was this a deliberate Easter egg for viewers? 😉

It is a global problem, I think especially post-COVID, because of multiple reasons: backlog of surgical cases, delayed follow up for chronic illness, more healthcare personnel burnt out, etc.. A hospital bed is not just A physical bed as depicted. Just cleaning up a bed often doesn't mean a pts can be admitted, maybe in SIngapore but in other countries like Malaysia, NO. A hospital bed also include nurses and doctors, other accessories such as oxygen port. If a hospital bed is just a bed then it would not be an issue. We can just buy hundreds of single size bed and line them all along the whole hospital corridors, from entrance till the end. Problem would solved. Is it really that what you want? Just a pts lying on the bed waiting for self healing. A nurse taking care of 6 pts who just continue antibiotics is vastly different from 1 nurse taking care of 6 ill pts who are on oxygen, anytime waiting to collapse. If there is just no manpower to take care of pts, it is ill advised to just adding on beds. Care would be vastly suboptimal. There is no solution to this if government don't think it is a problem. We have been hung out to dry and we are left to our own. The analogy of the bucket could not be any more true. If we think building more hospital is the solution then we may need a country of hospital. Its like money, its never enough. One possible solution is starts from the root. We need to have stronger primary care. Prevention medicine is its most important time. Preventing chronic illnesses such as DM, hypertension to progress to complications such as infection, stroke, MI is a way to prevent long hospitalization. Doing domiciliary care is a great way forward. As you can see, it also require some manpower. Some doctors and nurses to go around, preferably driving to patient's house to administer medications and wound dressing. It is not a one man job. And its not free. Of course in Singapore, you have Medicare to help to get into private hospital. In Malaysia, we dont have such privilege, Malaysian have to buy own insurance to admit to private hospital, if not government hospital is the only chance, thus amplifying the congestion. Then also, Singaporeans coming over to Malaysia government hospital to join the congestion due to "cheaper rate" 😒 So another point I think is to make everyone work and pay for their own healthcare can help reduce our load. People will be more cautious of going to hospital if they are force to pay for their own healthcare.

This is like another ways to tell you they reject you patient. Otherwise You just got wait patiently. I gave up waiting at sengkang a&e once. There was once i waited from midnite until 6am the next morning. They completely forgotten me

Fully respect to the nurses doctors.. they are always occupied.. must stay healthy as long as possible… try not to get medical help … it’s hard..

I have private insurance but still have to wait (government insurance will even take days). Just avoid hospitals that are packed imo

It takes 30mins to clean and disinfect 1 bed before the patient admitted. Housekeeper have to do at least 10 beds daily.

Able to increase bed capacity but able to get the manpower ?

Hi Tks saw this n I wanna share my crazy experience too. Now still in CGH. Got admitted on 23rd Nov. Was told too there wasn’t any bed at all so had been sleeping on a sofa chair at the corridor. Had a fall. It was a blessing in disguise I had that fall coz immediately I was told there’s a bed for me. Thought someone just checked out but went to this ward and saw that there were more than 1 empty bed available. What’s going on! Got beds available but said no beds. 1. What the hell! Got twice interrogated by that night’s young Dr. accusing me that I had secretly brought and took my own medications without informing them hence I had the fall. My answer twice was not accepted. Dr.even went to the extent of searching my backpack. Found nothing then left. What is this? I form own conclusion since I fell under their nose, hospital now fears if I suffered further cos of that fall, hospital is worried I sue the hospital. I may be wrong in my judgment but who knows what the hospital Dr was thinking then. It also gave me the impression that the Dr was trying to shed responsibility and trying to push the blame to me. Cut the story short. CGH now does not have anyone similar to Florence Nightingale but plenty Florence Nigtmares. Terrible service. Those can’t speak or understand simple English should not be nureses. What happens if asked for A but was given B. Twice foreign nurse misunderstood what I said/asked for. OMG! My stay may be entented to Monday or Tuesday. Dr was supposed to explain my CT Scan to me yesterday after 5pm but now is already next day and there’s no sign of Dr n no explanations why Dr. never came. I’m so fed up already and told myself to just keep my cool n treat this as a staycation just not to upset myself. I am at ward 48. Bed 44. Anyone wanna come interview me can pls come. Just didn’t know what to do n clicked into CNA and Tk goodness saw this post. Tks.

Waiting like universal studios. Hospital got to stop taking so much funding and medical fees so so much less quality services

It really depends on your health conditions. I am warded REGULARLY due to my blood disorder. The max i wait is 4 hours and that only happens less than 3 times. On average i wait for 2 to 3 hours for bed. In 2023 alone i was warded 6 times.

Wow..shift blame to housekeeping / bed mgmt 😅 It’s always easier to come up with “excuses” to explain current situation

grandma stayed at the ED ward for about a week and only got warded when she had to be isolated as she got COVID there :(

Thank you CNA for shedding light on this complexities of the hospital bed situation in Singapore. As a medical doctor working in the public hospital, I think about discharge planning from the time a patient arrives in the A&E. Discharge planning is a collaborative effort between the medical team, nurses, allied health professionals but not forgetting, patients/families themselves. Opening more hospitals could be a solution, but if we aren't able to amp up our manpower strength in the public healthcare setting, these additional hospitals won't be able to provide the stated care it's expected to.

As a nurse myself all i can really say is, there is really no bed at all! 😂😂 The whole wards building is full house so we can do what? Lol. Unless u know, we could just follow like in india, we can placed patients on the mat at the floor then otherwise i dont think there is other way out then..

'Prevention better than cured' 😅

Nightmare for the patients, but I can't imagine how busy it must be to work there too! It's obviously not just a space or inflow issue... you can build a million hospitals but who are you going to hire to take care of the people?

7hrs waiting time is actually very fast. 2019 When my mom had a fall and fractured her hip, it took around 1day waiting

If Singapore still imports more foreigners, buckets need to be added. Why not use the UK 4 hours wait time as a bench and stop importing foreigners once the wait time is breached?

Singapore got the money build another big, hugh hospital in one of the nearby island.

More hospitals more manpower needed. 😊

Totally agree with you.

Don't be a frog living in a well. Open your eyes wide to see the healthcare facilities around the world. Be grateful for what we have in Singapore. While it is not the best of the best all the time, we are fine. Don't take for granted what we have in Singapore. All of us must do our part - don't go to hospital A&E unless it is for an emergency, show moral support to the healthcare workers, live an active lifestyle to prevent illness, etc.

Singapore is so rich, Why wouldnt they build a few more hospital to overcome these issuse? They will earn for sure also. No loss

24+ years ago in Kk Hosp I already have to wait for a bed to give birth to my elder son back then. At that time I was experiencing labour pain but still have to wait ..what to do? No bed to give birth 😂

Keyholes surgery is only one cm.cut and be discharged immediately. Open cut and sew surgery is 12 cm.cut . Longer stay in bed and discharged many days later . So Keyholes is a solutions. Thanks

MOH MP say bed will never be enough no matter how much they add 😆

These days everything has increased in cost. The person interviewed still can suggest patients to bear more of the medical cost instead of the insurers. Then what’s the point of paying premium in the first place.

Didnt expect SG to have 3rd world country problem😮

Open a makeshift hospital in Ridout.

How to ensure citizens and PRs get priority over foreigners? Foreigners shd go to private hospitals.

even in France we have the same pb

Use double decked beds to admit more patients. Use relatives instead of nurses. Use A.I. and no hawkers foods.

The expert who demo by pouring water into the jugs suggested that SG would become a hospital country if we keep adding beds or hospitals to meet medical needs?, It seems to make sense, until I question the narrative, "Are we supposed to become a mall / condominium / attraction country then, when our fellow citizens are dying or suffering due to a lack of medical care?" We should question assumptions ppl, and start to re create the singapore that we know we need. If we are too passive or dormant even in re-thinking Singapore's identity and story so far, then we are truly doomed. We can do something. Start by questioning your assumptions and the stories fed to you.

LMAO...... Only ten 10 hours...... I waited 2 and 1/2 days for my hospital bed and that is my longest record.

To get a hospital referral from polyclinic it could take 3-6 months sometimes a years for dental……I don’t see the light to it and it could become worst as we are more crowded with a aging society! Don’t forget we are getting more foreigner in our country and few years ago someone suggested to have a 10 millions population 😂

Is not the matter more beds and hospitals!!! Is all about the manpower! We are really shortage of manpower.

Frankly speaking, I myself have stayed in hospital despite not having to. The issue? Insurance. In order for me to claim for my hospitalization, I’m required to stay overnight in the hospital.

So much for a first world nation. SG is overrated.

So blamed it on the one that came up the idea of stop at 2.

10m population...

Hope Ong Ye Kung and his team are watching this

The conclusion is so dumb. The problem is with the population, not the number of beds. STOP GROWING THE POPULATION!

If the population / aging patients are increasing..why not the no. of hospital beds! 😡

10 hrs in the us is nothing

Government is sleeping.

Why can’t patients and their families takes their annual leave to take care of the parents instead of increasing more care leave? What about the impact at the work place n businesses

8 hours to 9 hours. Maybe wait 1 week or 2 weeks better.

Doesnt makes sense.. millions and billions of funding every year.. and rising cost of medical. Still like that..

You get what you pay for! Easy

But then moving forward does anyone have confidence in the 4G government to solve this issue?

When eveyone pick SUBSIDIES TREATMENT AND BEDS THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS. NOTHING NEW

Lets see if the GST 9% will make our Hospital better and more efficient.

Sg hospital services aren’t intuitive. I’ve seen my late grandma and her Indonesian helper struggle. There’s just endless queuing from counter to counter, in an overly protocol and procedure driven environment lacking in human touch. There’s no holistic care in our hospitals at all.

This happens because nurses are used to do meagre tasks that could be done by layperson. In the old days, lots of ah ma running errands for bedridden patients, now it’s done by nurses. Stupid government, people trying to milk the system for higher fees.

Put double decker bed lor. #joking

Did MOH collate statistics on the profile & trend of patients seeking admission? What is the percentage of foreigners? Is there an increasing trend of foreigners (non citizens/PRs)? Patients from countries with poor medical care may be flooding in.

I waited for 2 days before I got a bed at CGH. And i stayed a month plus due to covid vaccine. The bed turn over is very fast. The ward is always filled. Been the longest serving patient in the ward, I would say the nurse love to torture me. Gladly I am excused from all vaccine and hopefully don’t hv anymore staycation

Did you locals not voted for this? 10 million or more coming. So 10 hrs is still way too short, BE PREPARED FOR A FEW DAYS WAIT!😆😆😆😆😆

*By the world standard A&E patient should be given a bed within 4 hours and be warded*

To do that stupid water bucket demo, you created a mess and spearhead Dengue , creating more demand for hospital veds

First world country with third world problems...😅😅😅😅😅

they wanted capitalism, deal with it.

It's the prcs in hospital.

Why don't A&E doctors question the mgmt? How many areas of the hospital are used as wards? I know TTSH has close to the entire level 1 for F&B and gifts shops when it has U Square, Novena Sq + Velocity right opp. SKH has a fitness center for who? We have so many floors in every hospital, how many are used as wards, what are the ratio of common wards to individual wards?From the mass of replies here, people generally do not go to hospitals unless they need to, so don't just blame people for going to hospital.