Mandatory ART for higher-risk patients at A&E

From tomorrow, higher-risk patients at hospital accident and emergency departments will have to undergo mandatory antigen rapid testing (ART) regardless of their vaccination status.

Hospitals will also not receive visitors to their wards for four weeks, until Oct 23, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said yesterday.

The tightened measures at all public, community and private hospitals will help to safeguard hospital capacity, it added, as more Covid-19 cases have been detected among hospital staff, patients and visitors.

"The detection of these cases led to ward closures and staff quarantine which impacted some hospitals, putting a strain on hospital bed capacity and staffing at a time when more hospital beds are ramped up to care for hospitalised Covid-19 patients," MOH said.

The measures will also help emergency departments, which are usually crowded.

"Currently patients presenting with acute respiratory infection symptoms in the hospitals' emergency departments or 24-hour emergency clinic will be segregated from other patients," MOH said.

"However, with more Covid-19 cases presenting pre-symptomatically or asymptomatically, testing will be needed to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission in the emergency departments."

Higher-risk patients to be tested include those being held for prolonged observation or extended testing and treatment, or who have to remove their masks for longer than 15 minutes. Anyone accompanying a patient throughout an observation period lasting beyond 30 minutes will also have to undergo a rapid test.

"We urge those who have non-emergency conditions or mild symptoms to avoid seeking treatment at the hospitals and consult a general practitioner (GP) or urgent care centres instead," MOH said

Meanwhile, some groups of patients will be allowed visitors which hospitals will assess case by case. They include patients in critical condition, children, women giving birth or post-partum, and patients requiring additional care support from caregivers. Some of these patients could have mental incapacities and would include family members undergoing caregiver training.

Patients allowed visitors can have only one pre-designated visitor, for one visit per day. Patients who are in critical condition may be allowed up to five pre-designated visitors, with a maximum of two visitors at the patient's bedside at any time.

All approved visitors, however, will have to produce a valid negative ART or polymerase chain reaction test result obtained within the last 24 hours of each visit.

The Ministry of Health yesterday announced tightened measures for visitations at public acute hospitals, community hospitals and private hospitals.

Here is what patients and visitors need to know:

• All visits to hospital wards will be suspended from Sept 24 to Oct 23, both dates inclusive.

• Only certain patient groups will be allowed one visit a day by one pre-designated visitor, on a case-by-case basis. They are patients in critical condition; paediatric patients; mothers giving birth or who just gave birth; and patients needing additional care support from caregivers, such as those with mental incapacities.

• Those in critical condition may have up to five pre-designated visitors, with two visitors at most at the patient's bedside at any one time.

• All visitors need to produce a valid antigen rapid test (ART) or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result, obtained within 24 hours of each visit.

• From tomorrow, higher-risk patients will have to undergo mandatory ART at the emergency departments or 24-hour emergency clinics. These patients include those who are placed in the emergency department's short stay ward for prolonged observation or in the extended diagnostic and treatment unit; or those who must undergo mask-off assessment, or procedures lasting 15 minutes or more.

• Those accompanying the patients through the observation period for more than 30 minutes will also need to take the ART test.