NTFGH and Bed Capacity

8 September 2014

Question No. 90

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song
Non-Constituency MP

Question:

To ask the Minister for Health with regard to the delayed opening of the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and the addition of 150 beds to existing hospitals to cope with the increased patient load (a) whether NUH, SGH and CGH have the infrastructural capacity to cope with the additional 150 beds that are unplanned for; (b) whether the bed additions to these hospitals will be permanent or temporary, (c) what proportion of these beds will be housed in corridors or temporary structures such as tents; and (d) whether the hospitals have the ready manpower to absorb the additional strain to ensure that patients will still be able to receive high standards of care.

Answer 

1        CGH’s additional beds have been planned as part of the CGH-SACH Integrated Building for which works started in 2012. The new Integrated Building will progressively open from end 2014 and will have over 280 beds when fully open in 2015. CGH has been ramping up its manpower in preparation for this planned expansion.

2        In addition, about 150 beds will be added in NUH and SGH to cope with any surge in acute care demand. As new facilities such as the NUH Medical Centre, the Academia and the National Heart Centre have been completed, the space in existing buildings has become available for new uses. These additional beds will be housed in renovated spaces within the existing hospitals as part of their plans to remodel and refresh their facilities. None of these additional beds will be housed in temporary structures. As JurongHealth and Sengkang Health had recruited staff in preparation for the opening of NTFGH and running of Alexandra Hospital (AH), there is also sufficient manpower in the system to operate these additional beds safely.