Emergency Care

Emergency medicine

At SGH, patients have access to over 600 doctors from over 40 clinical specialties. Our dedicated team of healthcare professionals is committed to give each patient the quality of care that would best address the clinical problem. This section will help to familiarise you with our Emergency Department.

Quick Guide for your journey at SGH Emergency Department

ED Patient Journey

Registration and Triage

As an Emergency Department, our priority is to attend to patients with serious illnesses and injuries.

To facilitate this, we will assess your medical condition at Triage after you have registered at our Registration Counter, and sometimes, even before registration if the situation so demands. The Emergency Department at SGH is one of the busiest in the country. There is a Senior Emergency Physician on duty on every shift.

Only 1 accompanying person per patient is allowed.

Triage

At the Triage Room, our staff will:

take a short history of your illness.
record your vital signs like temperature, pulse, respiration and blood pressure.

Please assist the staff by giving them all the relevant and accurate information. You will be assigned a specific priority level according to the severity of your medical condition. Our staff will advise you of the appropriate area to go to for consultation and treatment. There are separate waiting areas for patients with different priority levels.

Priority Levels

There are four different levels of priority and they are as follows:

What are the different Priority Levels?

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Patients in a state of cardiovascular or imminent collapse are attended to immediately at the Resuscitation Area. The doctors will speak to the family member after they have assessed and stabilised the patient.

Examples: Heart attack, severe injuries, severe bleeding, shock and severe asthma attack.

Patients with acute medical conditions that must be initially treated in the Hospital. They are in stable condition and do not require resuscitation. They are required to be trolley-based for patient examination and treatment. These patients are attended to early at the Critical Care Area. The doctors will speak to the family member after they have initially assessed the patient.

Examples: Major limb fracture / dislocation, moderate injuries, severe abdominal pain and other severe medical illnesses.

Patients with acute symptoms who are in a stable condition and are able to walk. These patients may be treated by General Practitioners (GP) / Family Physicians with acute care resources or at the Emergency Department. After Triage, they are seen at the Emergency Consultation Area. Family members may enter the consultation room with the patient, but they may be asked to take a seat in the waiting area when examinations and procedures are being performed.

Examples: Sprains, minor injuries, minor abdominal pain, vomiting, rashes and mild headaches.

If it's an old injury or a condition that has been present for a long time such as Chronic joint pains, chronic skin rash, long-term nasal discharge, old scars, cataracts and removal of tattoos. you preferably be attended to by General Practitioners (GP) / Family Physicians. The Emergency Department is not the appropriate facility for their care. You may wish to go to your own General Practitioner or to a polyclinic.

Patients With COVID19 Symptoms and Fever

Patients with fever will be managed in a separate area in the Emergency Department. This is to reduce the risk of infection to the other patients in the Emergency Department.

Consultation and Treatment

Depending on your medical condition, our doctors may decide on the following for you:-

Review by doctors from other departments - When your medical condition requires a review by doctors from other departments of SGH, we will call the respective doctors to attend to you.
Observation after initial treatment / investigations - After initial treatment and investigations, we may observe you in the Emergency Observation Ward for a number of hours. Following review, a decision can then be made as to whether your condition requires in-hospital admission or outpatient care.
Admission - When there is a need for further investigations and treatment in an inpatient setting, we will admit you as an inpatient.
Discharge for home - After treatment, you may be discharged with or without medication. The doctor may also refer you to our Specialist Outpatient Clinic, your nearest polyclinic or your own family physician.

Please note that queue numbers may not be called in sequence. Please wait for your queue number to be flashed on the screen at the Consultation Area or for the doctor to call your name.

Discharge from the Emergency Department

Follow-up Appointment

If the doctor refers you to our Specialist Outpatient Clinic, you will receive an SMS with the date and time of your appointment.

To change your appointment date, you may access our online system or call the Central Appointment Hotline 6321 4377 during office hours.

Collection of Medication

If your doctor has prescribed medication for you to take home, you may collect your medication at the Pharmacy. For more information on your medications, click here.

Payment

The current charges for Emergency Department can be found here. Our A&E service & facility fee covers basic investigations and services provided. Specialised emergency investigations and services will involve extra cost and hence additional charges.

Payment for your A&E visit will not be made on the day itself. You will receive an SMS notification when your A&E bill is ready, and you can make payment via your HealthBuddy mobile app, or online with our Patient Financial Services. For non-residents, your bill will be sent to your email address or mailed to your home address.

For insurance coverage of A&E charges, please check with your insurance provider.

Admission

Our staff at the Admissions Counter will assist you with the admission and help you decide on your room type, by giving you the estimated cost of hospitalisation and the deposit required. Click here for information on the ward types and a virtual tour of the rooms.

For any queries on using Medisave or your insurance to cover your admission, please let our Patient Service Associates know during the financial counselling. More information on financing your admission can be found here.

The nominated Next-Of-Kin (NOK) will be notified via SMS once the the patient is transferred up to the ward. The first digit of the ward number corresponds to the block, and the second digit corresponds to the floor (eg. Ward 75 is at Block 7, Level 5). You can find the latest information on visiting here.

Children below 12 years old

In SGH, we do not have the facilities to treat young patients. Our paediatricians are stationed at KKH. Usually before sending young patients over, we will stabilize their condition first.

FAQ

‎Waiting time

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If your blood was drawn for testing, the results usually take up to two hours to be out. The doctor will see you again to review the results. However, certain blood tests take a longer time to process, you will be advised accordingly if this applies to you.

As queue numbers are not necessarily called in sequence, we advise patients to stay in the department if you have not been seen by a doctor.

For the companion

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Please wait at the Waiting Area outside the critical care area. If in doubt, seek help from our staff.

After we have assessed and stabilised the patient, doctors will update next-of-kin (NOK) either in person or via telephone. Our staff will ask for the contact details of the nominated NOK at registration, which will be captured in the system. We seek your understanding that we will only be able to update the nominated NOK as our medical team is focusing on delivering care and treatment to the patient.

We seek your understanding that our medical team is focusing on delivering care and treatment to patients and will only update the nominated next-of-kin on the patient’s condition should there be any changes in the patient’s condition. Patients will be updated on their condition after their assessment at the Emergency Department and we will advise patients to keep their families updated as well. You may contact the patient directly via their mobile phone.

We will send an SMS with the patient’s ward, room and bed details to the nominated next-of-kin (NOK) once the patient has been transferred up to the ward. If you are not the nominated NOK, please get the information from the nominated person or contact the patient directly.

In the consultation area, one companion is allowed per patient. In the critical care area, one companion is allowed only if the Patient cannot manage without caregiver support (e.g. children, patients with dementia, etc.). You may contact the patient directly via their mobile phone.

If patients are not restricted from eating or drinking, meals will be provided if patients are admitted or under observation.

You may pass the items to the Patient as long as they are not in the Resuscitation, Critical Care or Isolation areas. If you are unable to visit the patient, please pass the items to our staff at the registration counter. We strongly discourage our patients from holding on to valuables in case they are misplaced.

You can find a complete list of eateries, 24h convenience stores, gift stores and ATMs in SGH here.

Miscellaneous

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When visiting the A&E, please bring along your Identity Card, Work Permit, foreigner pass or passport if possible. We do accept the National Digital Identity Card in the SingPass app as well. For patients who do not have these documents with them when they visit the Emergency Department, treatment will proceed and family members are advised to bring their documents as soon as possible.

There are several charging ports located beside the Nurse Station at the Consultation Area. You may go there to charge your device on your own - you do not need to ask for permission from our staff. However, you will need to have your own charger and cable. Do be considerate to others who might need to share the charging ports!

Our A&E service & facility fee covers basic investigations and services provided. Specialised emergency investigations and services will involve extra cost and hence additional charges.