Sufficiency of hospital beds for the critically ill

14 February 2012

Question No. 268

Name of person: Mr David Ong

Question

To ask the Minister for Health (a) if he can provide an update on the sufficiency of hospital beds for the critically ill; and (b) whether the hospitals can cope with current number of beds in the event of a surge in the number of chronic cases turning critical.

Answer

1     MOH has over the years built up high dependency and intensive care capacities to meet the needs of critically ill patients. As of end 2011, HD and ICU beds constitute approximately 9.4% of beds in service. Bed occupancy rates for HDs and ICUs vary across different hospitals and time periods. The bed occupancy rate in 2011 (up to end third quarter 2011) for HD was 60% while the bed occupancy rate for ICU was 73%.

2     We recognise that the demand for such facilities would increase as our population ages with increasing prevalence of chronic diseases coupled with advances in medical treatment that enable treatment of increasingly more complex cases. We would thus be increasing the number of high dependency and intensive care beds even as we increase the overall number of public hospital beds. At the same time, we need to use these facilities appropriately and ensure right siting so that only patients who need HD and ICU beds are warded in such facilities.