Sardine‑Stacked Hospitals: Patients Mired in Emergency Waiting for Days

Singapore’s Bed Crunch: Ambulance Chaos & ED Wall‑Fests

In Singapore’s hospitals, a relentless bed shortage has turned emergency departments into packed parking lots for ambulances that can’t find a free spot for patients. The result? Doctors taking patients off the ambulance bed, patients waiting 15–30 minutes, and ambulances stuck in traffic, missing out on other emergencies.

Why the Chaos?

Only 32 % more ambulance calls in 2022‑mid vs. 2021.
Almost all—93 %—were genuine emergencies.
A surge in Covid‑19 cases tightened beds even further.

What Doctors Say

Doctors and nurses refuse to be named, but the story is the same: “Patients staying in the ED for days is now the norm.” One specialist added, “I’m no longer surprised to see the same patient and family a few days later in the ED.”

Patient Parade—Case of Mr. Anthony Pragasam

91‑year‑old Anthony arrived on 20 Sept at 3 pm. The ED turned him into a ward at 8 pm but left him waiting for two days before moving him to a proper room. His son, frustrated, said, “We couldn’t even know if he had a shower. How can we trust the system when we can’t watch our loved one for two days?”

How Long the Wait Turns Out

Data from Ng Teng Fong General Hospital shows a median wait of 22–24 hours in late September, even on weekends the wait dropped only to 7.6 hours. In August, the longest wait hit 25.4 hours.

Steps the Ministry is Taking

Adding beds to wards.
Creating holding spots in EDs—some hospitals have turned consultation rooms into “rehab‑chairs” for waiting patients.

It’s clear this isn’t a one‑off issue. Hospitals, medical staff, and families are calling for a rethink—especially for the elderly, who can’t access enough care when they’re stuck in emergency rooms alone.

The ED Overcrowding Fever at Changi General Hospital

Ever imagined a cramped room where patients are stacked like sardines, and nurses move in a dance of barely-there space? Welcome to the Changi General Hospital emergency department (ED), currently crowded—and that’s not just a timeframe but a permanent residency for many.

“You can’t even touch a door without touching the next patient!”

Recliner Reality – Some patients sit in recliners while waiting for a bed because none are left. Beds are so close that a simple wrist stretch could roll a patient into the next one.
Space is the enemy – A nurse admits she has to pull a bed out to reach a patient’s arm or squeeze in for a blood pressure check. They’re all living in a human Tetris game.
Hands full – For bed-bound patients who need frequent turning, tube‐feeding, and diaper changes, the space problem makes every routine a ballet of precision.

Doctors: A Day‑to‑Day Struggle

In a bustling ED, privacy becomes a luxury. One doctor laments, “Patients can’t rest properly; the ED is noisy. Finding and attending to a patient while maintaining dignity feels like a circus act.” Another echoes the frustration, noting that the “stack of patients is so tight the only way you can move is by dropping everything else.”

They’ve highlighted a common annual pattern: 70 to 80 patients sign onto admissions papers but never move to a ward, essentially trapped in the ED’s limbo.

Not an ED Problem, but a Hospital One

The budget to tackle this has been flagged for years, yet the situation hasn’t budged. It feels like the solution is baked into the entire hospital recipe, not just the emergency kitchen.

COVID’s Impact & Staffing Exodus

Burnout & Billions – Health workers left for higher pay gigs during the pandemic. Think: a junior doctor quitting the public system to earn double in a few months.
Foreign Nurses Going Home – With travel restrictions, many overseas nurses have opted out of the rotation and returned to their countries.
Roxy Martinez’s Story – A seasoned nurse who spent 10 years in the ED got carved out of the system, citing that it used to be a “fun gig” but turned into “bad days every day.” She recalls a shift where one nurse (or a couple) cared for more than 50 patients – a scenario that’s both alarming and laugh‑worthy.

In Short…

The ED at Changi is literally a living, breathing tissue of packed beds, sluggish walkways, and marathon nurses. With COVID still lingering, staffing like a game of ‘The Last Night at the Party’, it’s no wonder people feel out of shape, not just physically, but mentally. It’s high time the entire hospital system cracks open the door, recalibrates the beds—swap them for some space—and maybe offers a humane schedule to everyone involved.

Why Nurses Are Saying “It’s Too Much”

For a lot of the healthcare crew in Singapore, the decision to walk away isn’t just because the job feels like a marathon. It’s real‑time evidence that the patient rooms aren’t getting the TLC they deserve. One of the voices that built the case came from a nurse who ran out of breath after a shift that felt more like a sprint than a steady pace.

Nurses are drowning in workload. They barely snag a breather—well, if “breather” means a bathroom break, then that’s a tough exit.
Shift hand‑offs feel like a ghost event. Because the next shift’s team never actually arrives to take over, the current staff extends their stay, chasing a shift that never starts.

Same Problem, Different Borders

Singapore’s hiccup is a worldwide ball game. In Quebec, the Health Minister Christian Dube highlighted an eerie statistic: in 2021, 1,400 patients were found dead on stretchers, waiting to move from ER to a ward. The doctors in Québec shot back that it doesn’t mean the death was solely because of a transfer delay—yet it’s a red flag that can’t be ignored.

Inside the Emergency Room Chaos

One emergency doctor points out a simple truth: when the ER is jammed, the nurses become the “observers” rather than hands-on caregivers. That means fewer nurses for the high‑intensity areas in the department, and the doctors feel the strain for sure.

Another clinician joked it feels like hosting a disco in the ER— “One shift, the ER was packed like a concert. Every inch of space was filled with recliners, trolleys, and patients.”

How One Hospital Keeps the Beat

Tan Tock Seng Hospital is a prime example, running a high‑volume ER while still keeping the wait times in check. For two weeks in September, the median wait ranged from 5 to 12.4 hours, while 5,290 patients poured in. Yet wards were busy with a 101.8% bed occupancy.

They keep the ER from turning into a parking lot with these tactics:

Timed rotations. Patients are moved out after a set period or when the ER ceiling crosses a threshold.
Upgrades to better wards. If needed, they shuffle people into higher‑class areas.
Surge procedures. When the crowd gets wild, they even cancel non‑urgent surgeries for the next day—a move that pokes at both doctors and patients but keeps the ER from becoming a backlog crisis.

All this shows the silver lining: systems that can react quickly to patient flow can still protect the quality of care, even when the numbers are wild. The lesson? It’s not just about numbers; it’s about where the responsibility lands—for nurses, doctors, and the patients who depend on our health nets.

Sardine‑Stacked Hospitals: Patients Mired in Emergency Waiting for Days