Long waiting times should not be norm for public healthcare

Several public hospitals have experienced a severe shortage of beds recently, which has prolonged the waiting time for a bed.

Such a bed crunch would also affect those seeking treatment at Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments, as a longer wait would be expected given that A&E medical teams would be looking into housing those waiting for a bed.

Long waiting times at public healthcare institutions in Singapore are not new. Anecdotal comments have appeared in the press on the long wait for specialist and dental appointments and also to see a polyclinic doctor.

Long waiting times represent unproductive time; some patients and their relatives could otherwise resume their normal activities sooner. A shorter wait for specialist and dental appointments may result in prompt diagnosis and treatment, reducing unnecessary anxiety for patients and relatives.

At polyclinics, a shorter wait would allow patients to have more rest at home after seeing a doctor and reduce medical complications from a prolonged stay in the waiting area with other patients.

Indeed, the current public patient load exceeds what can be accommodated by the healthcare infrastructure. The Health Ministry has taken measures to address this by increasing the capacity and number of healthcare institutions.

However, infrastructure building is a medium- and long-term strategy, with little impact on current overloading and waiting times.

While many public hospitals have taken measures to shorten waiting times through process engineering and deploying new technologies, the crux of the issue is that there are not enough public doctors to look after the increasing patient loads. The immediate solution to the problem is to tap the private sector, which is commonly known to operate at less than full capacity. There are examples of such public-private collaboration.

They include Changi General Hospital renting a ward from Parkway East and sending some dengue patients to Gleneagles Hospital, as well as the Community Health Assist Scheme for Singaporeans to visit general practitioners near their homes.

It is also heartening that one private hospital Chief Executive Officer has offered 60 beds to public hospitals to help alleviate the current bed crunch. Long waiting times cannot and should not be a norm for public healthcare.

While I am optimistic that the problem will be tackled, given the ministry’s long-term plan to expand healthcare facilities, the patient now waiting for his dental/specialist appointment or seeing a polyclinic doctor deserves equal attention.