Janil Puthucheary on managing peak caseloads at hospital emergency departments

Hospital emergency departments, while busy, are able to triage patients promptly to prioritise treatment for urgent cases and preserve valuable medical capacity, said Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary. Replying to an MP’s questions in Parliament on Thursday (Mar 7), Dr Janil said protocols for ambulance diversions to other hospitals will be activated when emergency departments face a spike in urgent cases and when a number of ambulances arrive at the emergency department at approximately the same time. The hospital will also work with the ambulance crew to triage and activate additional hospital resources to unload the ambulances as expeditiously as possible. He also said that currently, 40 per cent of emergency department attendances are not life-threatening nor urgent, and in order to encourage patients to seek care at general practitioner (GP) clinics for non-urgent conditions, the Ministry of Health (MOH) introduced the GPFirst programme in 2014. He added that MOH has also set up Urgent Care Centres for urgent but non-life threatening medical conditions and NurseFirst, a non-emergency helpline where residents can receive useful medical advice.