15 Apr 2011
By: POON CHIAN HUI, MELISSA PANG
HOSPITALS which fared poorly in the Health Ministry survey have diagnosed the causes: higher patient loads, which lead to longer waiting time, and higher expectations.
Patients at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) are most unhappy with the service they received, according to the survey's ranking of the seven government hospitals.
Only 67 per cent of its patients rated service as "excellent" or "good", compared with leader Khoo Teck Puat Hospital's (KTPH) 82 per cent.
Ms Isabel Yong, SGH's director of service quality, said the poor showing was largely due to long waiting time.
On average, the SGH gets 3 per cent more outpatient visits every year, she noted. Last year, its specialist clinics registered about 700,000 patient visits.
The hospital will focus more on helping patients with long-term ailments get proper care in the community "so that we can focus on those in need of specialist care", she said.
KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) also saw a big slide in overall satisfaction scores, from second in 2009 to second-last last year.
Its chief operating officer, Mr Tan Jack Thian, said the decline may be attributed collectively to the increase in number of patients and growing expectations.
He said the hospital has tried to reduce waiting time by setting up specialist clinics.
However, 83 per cent of KKH's patients would recommend the hospital to others, putting it in second place behind KTPH's 87 per cent.
Changi General Hospital fared the worst here – only 73 per cent of its patients would recommend the hospital to others.
Its chief executive, Mr T.K. Udairam, said it will continue to implement patient-friendly initiatives and roll out more integrated-care programmes.
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