From Critical Moments to Recovery: SGH Emergency/NNI Building Streamlines Care Around Patients’ Needs

Singapore, 30 Oct 2026 – Imagine a scenario where you suddenly feel your speech is slurred, and your right arm and leg goes numb and weak. All signs point to a stroke, where time is of the essence. The ambulance rushes you to the newly opened Singapore General Hospital (SGH) Emergency/National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) building. Upon arrival, you can be assessed, scanned, and treated for an acute stroke without leaving the building in as quickly as 82 minutes.

This experience reflects the vision behind the 12-storey building, officially opened today by Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung: a model of emergency care built entirely around the patient journey, where assessment, diagnosis, intervention, and recovery happen in one seamlessly connected space.

“Patients can move easily from emergency assessment to acute medical care, neuroscience intervention, or advanced imaging as their condition requires," said Dr Ivan Chua, Head and Senior Consultant, Department of Emergency Medicine, SGH. "Different teams can now collaborate more effectively, bringing expertise from multiple disciplines to provide coordinated responses for complex medical conditions."

Stroke care has been further enhanced with Singapore’s first emergency department-based angiography suite in the new SGH Emergency/NNI building, enabling patients to undergo endovascular thrombectomy (EVT), a life-saving intervention to reopen blocked blood vessels in the brain within minutes of diagnosis, without being transferred to the SGH main blocks. This builds on the National Healthcare Innovation Productivity (NHIP) Award-winning quality improvement project that reduced median door-to-groin puncture time from 130 to 82 minutes, with the new facility delivering additional time savings where every minute is critical to patient outcomes.

Beyond the ED which comprises 53 critical care area cubicles and 12 resuscitation rooms, the building also houses acute medical wards with over 150 short-stay beds, neuroscience specialist outpatient clinics, and advanced imaging, including MRI and interventional radiology, all within the same facility.

The Hospital paid close attention to patient comfort and experience beyond clinical outcomes. Private treatment areas with walls and sliding doors offer dignity in what can be a vulnerable moment. For patients requiring an MRI scan, projector technology casts calming visuals

during scans which reduces anxiety in an environment that many find distressing. Families waiting for updates receive real-time information through patient information systems, lessening uncertainty during an already difficult time.

The building also incorporates a real-time location system that tracks patients throughout their hospital journey, and equipment to ensure critical medical devices are always available when they are needed.

For staff, a Code Grey panic button system, which was successfully piloted at the former ED, has also been implemented and scaled up for the new premises. This led to a four-time reduction in response time for assistance when staff encounter abusive behaviours at work, with 82 per cent of them reporting increased confidence in their workplace safety.

With the Neuroscience Clinic’s larger space and integrated design, SGH physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists are starting to run clinics alongside neurologists and specialist nurses from the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI), for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. This results in greater convenience for patients and opportunities for immediate collaborative care.

“Brain, spine, nerve and muscle conditions can affect every aspect of a person’s life, from walking and talking, to their memory and mood, resulting in patients requiring care from multiple healthcare professionals, but this can be a logistical nightmare for caregivers,” says Dr Tushar Divakar Gosavi, Deputy Head, Ambulatory Services (Neuroscience Clinic@SGH) and Senior Consultant, Neurology, NNI. “Now with the multidisciplinary clinics, neurologists can easily discuss and refer patients for assessment by the therapists, with more urgent cases being seen the same day, appointment slots permitting.”

Short intravenous infusions for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and migraine can now be administered at the clinic’s new infusion room, and lumbar punctures can also be performed onsite. This avoids the need for patients to be warded overnight, thereby freeing up beds for patients waiting in the Emergency Department to be admitted.

The Neuro-Diagnostic and Therapeutic Centre (NDTC) located on the same floor provides convenient access to outpatients, including same day testing when appointment slots are available. The NDTC also serves those admitted in the SGH Emergency Department requiring such tests, facilitating diagnosis and adding much-needed capacity to the original centre, located at the SGH Main Building.

With Singapore's population ageing rapidly, demand for emergency and neuroscience care is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. The Emergency/NNI building’s expanded capacity and integrated care model are designed to meet the demands while maintaining high-quality care standards.