More Signs of Sporns Reaching Boiling Pt

[makapaaa]

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=560><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=550 colSpan=2>Hospital staff report abuse by patients, families <!-- TITLE : end--><!--
BEING shouted at or roughed up by patients or next-of-kin is increasingly all in a day's work for the staff at three hospitals here. --></TD></TR><TR><TD>

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=550 colSpan=2 align=left><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD class=content_subtitle>Joan Chew</TD></TR><TR><TD class=content_subtitle align=left>Wed, Mar 24, 2010
The Straits Times </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD><TD width=400 align=right><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=right> </TD><TD height=15>

</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Story Without Image / With eXtra Large Image End --></TD></TR><TR><TD class=bodytext_10pt colSpan=3><!-- CONTENT : start -->
BEING shouted at or roughed up by patients or next-of-kin is increasingly all in a day's work for the staff at three hospitals here.

Senior principal radiographer Tan Chin Chong, 41, of the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) has had vulgarities hurled at him, has been grabbed by the collar, and has seen a colleague break down in tears in front of a patient's aggressive husband.

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 width=300 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD>http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v...2010/IA/AsiaOne_adventure_race2010_IA_230210/</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>He said: 'Sometimes we don't know what triggers their extreme anger and aggressiveness, but their behaviour which can cause hurt to others is unacceptable.'
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[Watchman]

Wah the other two earmarked hospitals have not been built .

Yet the two Casinos are coming up .

Amazing Singapore .

Yet they justify Doctors and Practitional quota by not building the Hospitals .

Amazing .

 

[phouse3]

Means testing has turned many people into meanies.

The PAP thinks the poor and very sick do not deserve specialist treatment.

You see, when a poor and very sick Singaporean goes to see a specialist in a public hospital, he is automatically deemed a private patient and not a subsidised patient. Yes, a Singaporean does not deserve subsidised healthcare.

The staff nurse will harass you. First, she will say all specialists' schedules are filled. Then she will discourage you to go through A&E because you will incur charges. If you persist, she will not register you but ask you to go for a drink and hope that you will go away. If you still persist and wait (for a few hours), she will tell you to go through A&E. Only when you bang table then suddenly there is a free slot.

By the time you reach the radiographer, you are a very angry person.

Later, you have to make an appointment to see a medical social worker to get yourself downgraded which the doctor will fore-warn you that it is almost an impossibility. And the doctor is right. The social worker will ask for bank statements and even ask you to rent out your HDB flat if you are unemployed.

If you are wondering why the A&E is so crowded but only a tiny percentage got admitted, it is because both rich and poor patients use this route to be automatically deemed as subsidised patients. Ditto for polyclinics because patients who got referrals by the polyclinics are also deemed subsidised patients.

It's better to die than to be sick.

 

[phouse3]

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan listed five criteria for means testing to be fair:
1. Patients must retain the freedom to choose the ward they want.
2. All C- and B2-class patients will be subisidised, but to different degrees. Higher-income patients will be subsidised less, but their bills will remain affordable.
3. Assessment of a patient's ability to pay must be kept simple.
4. Means testing must be sensitive to the circumstances of retirees and others who are not working, and who fear their savings could be wiped out by big hospital bills.
5. No patient will be denied treatment because he cannot afford it.

Hahaha. Many early retirees or chronically unemployed (more than 5 years of unemployment) did not qualify for subsidised healthcare under Criteria 4 when they walked into a specialist clinic.

Just look at the numbers:
1. 4 in 5 who turn up at A&E are not warded
2. 15% of hospital beds are empty (or 85% occupied) yet they claim it is not a good enough buffer
3. 40% of dental chairs are empty

Obviously, people are using the A&E route to avoid the hassle of means testing.

85% is probably a figure erring on the high side. Moreover, hotels can achieve above 90% without problems. Hence, our public hospitals must be very inefficient. They will become even more inefficient if they want more than 15% buffer.

They contradicted themselves when they complain that 40% of dental patients do not show up. The extreme inefficiency was created by themselves due to the implementation of appointment system. The problem can be solved with the stroke of a pen by reverting to the walk-in system. Yet, they put up even more obstacles/redtape by implementating a $8 deposit.

Our polyclinics are bursting at the seams. They open the doors earlier in the early hours of the morning so that the crowd wait inside, away from public eyes. The long queues and eyesore outside the polyclinics may have disappeared but not the problem.

Apparently, they want as many Singaporeans to go to private healthcare as possible because public healthcare is subsidised. On the other hand, many foreign workers are using the public healthcare system because of company policy.

Singapore is a medical tourism hub. In an economic downturn, when the tourists are not coming, the policymakers complained that they don't understand why public hospitals are bursting at the seams whilst private ones are empty. But we are not digits to be pushed around to fullfil better numbers and money or the lack of it is the issue.

 

[radon39]

the CB radiographer deserves it.....his face kiampak wan