More beds, facilities for St Luke's hospital

New seven-storey wing ready by next year under $14m govt-funded project

By Poon Chian Hui, The Straits Times, 1 May 2012

ST LUKE'S Community Hospital will add more beds and new facilities by next year in its first major expansion in 16 years.

The $14 million project, funded by the Government, includes a new seven- storey wing that will house a day rehabilitation centre, pharmacy, outpatient clinic and offices.

The hospital in Bukit Batok is also increasing its number of beds by 25 per cent - from 185 to 233; its staff strength will grow by 20 per cent from the current 350.

Piling works will begin this month and construction of the building is expected to start in August.

At the ground-breaking ceremony yesterday, Minister of State for Health Amy Khor said the expansion was in line with the Health Ministry's plan to add 1,800 beds in community hospitals by 2020 to serve Singapore's rapidly ageing society.

St Luke's, founded in 1996, is one of six community hospitals here.

These hospitals fill the gap between primary-care and acute hospitals, by providing step-down care for patients who are recovering from more serious ailments, such as stroke or cancer.

At St Luke's, most patients stay for about one month.

The new wing will help ease the bed crunch at the hospital, said its chairman Foong Daw Ching.

The hospital's occupancy rate has been steadily on the rise, from 80 per cent in 2009 to 87 per cent last year. Comparatively, the average bed occupancy rate across all community hospitals last year stood at 80 per cent.

Said Mr Foong: 'Occupancy is increasing; the demand is just overwhelming.'

The chairman added that patients who need to be admitted to the hospital may wait as long as five days before a bed is available.

'We know of people who are waiting to come in... But we cannot drive patients out,' he said. 'We must make sure they are well enough to leave.'

Figures for the average admission waiting time for the six community hospitals were not available.

Two floors will be set aside for patients who are more ill when the expansion is complete.

Many of these sub-acute patients are from acute hospitals and have completed their course of treatment, but require a level of complex care and so remain unfit to return home.

Examples of such patients include those who need to be put on intravenous drips, or antibiotic therapy.

In all, such sub-acute patients make up 20 per cent of St Luke's patient load, and this number is expected to rise in the next few years, said Mr Foong.

The new wing is also likely to ease the bed crunch at the acute hospital level.

Now, nearly 80 per cent of patients at the nearby National University Hospital (NUH) who require community hospital care are admitted to St Luke's.

Occupancy rates at NUH are above 85 per cent.

An NUH spokesman said: 'The new additions will help provide some relief to our current tight bed situation.'

Under the Health Ministry's plan for the step-down care sector, some 11,000 more staff - such as nurses and therapists - are needed by 2020 on top of the current 4,000-strong workforce.