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NOTICE PAPER NO. 1955
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON OR AFRER 4 JULY 2023
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Dr Tan Wu Meng
MP for Jurong GRC
Question No. 4649
To ask the Minister for Health what safeguards exist to ensure access to polyclinic care for seniors aged 65 years and above who (i) cannot go online to book appointments and (ii) repeatedly find that online slots are already fully booked.
NOTICE PAPER NOS. 1994
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON OR AFER 4 JULY 2023
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Ms He Ting Ru
MP for Sengkang GRC
Question No. 4776
To ask the Minister for Health whether it is possible to release polyclinic next-day appointment slots in a few fixed tranches each day rather than have a single release of time slots at 10 pm.
NOTICE PAPER NO. 1989
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR WRITTEN ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 3 JULY 2023
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Dr Tan Wu Meng
MP for Jurong GRC
Question No. 3049
To ask the Minister for Health whether the Ministry has monthly data since January 2023 regarding next-day polyclinic online appointment bookings which opens the night before a prospective consultation date, pertaining to how many minutes after commencement of availability are such available online booking slots fully reserved, broken down by (i) 5th percentile (ii) 25th percentile (iii) median (iv) 75th percentile and (iv) 95th percentile.
NOTICE PAPER NO. 1992
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR WRITTEN ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 3 JULY 2023
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Dr Tan Wu Meng
MP for Jurong GRC
Question No. 3055
To ask the Minister for Health for each month since January 2023, how many patients have logged into the polyclinic online appointment booking system the night before a prospective consultation date but did not proceed to book a consultation eventually.
Answer
1 Our healthcare system is facing increasing demands, as our people age and need more healthcare, including primary care. At the same time, completion of new polyclinics had been delayed due to the pandemic.
2 As a result, some polyclinics have greater demand and less easy availability of appointments. Pending the development of new polyclinics, they are putting in place short term measures to address this.
3 The polyclinics will set aside some slots for walk-in patients with urgent medical needs, as well as for elderly patients, particularly those who are frail and have mobility issues. To do so, non-urgent cases may be given an appointment for another day or advised to seek treatment at a nearby Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) GP clinic. Polyclinics will also try to leverage telemedicine as much as possible, and contract private GPs to help deliver the service.
4 Some polyclinics have already adopted the practice of releasing polyclinic appointments in tranches. However, this does not solve the issue of capacity constraint and in fact may frustrate patients more if they are repeatedly unable to book appointments.
5 The Ministry of Health does not have the data requested by MP Dr Tan Wu Meng.