ER wait times cut by 10%, SSM says

The Health Bureau (SSM)director, Alvis Lo, told lawmakers yesterday that the average adult emergency department waiting time in the first half of this year was 54 minutes, down 10% year over year, as legislators raised concerns over long waits, peak-hour staffing, and healthcare worker pressures.

According to the bureau, the average waiting time for Category 2 emergency cases was 16 minutes in the first half of 2026, with Category 3 semi-urgent cases waiting 45 minutes and non-urgent cases 58 minutes – representing a reduction of more than 20% from the 71 minutes recorded last year.

“We classify emergency patients into four tiers according to clinical urgency,” the director explained. “Category 2 patients waited 16 minutes, Category 3 waited 45 minutes, and even the least urgent cases waited 58 minutes – down over 20% from 71 minutes in 2025. Even for non-urgent cases, we’ve brought down the waiting time.”

He further noted that the Macau Medical Centre of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, which launched its emergency service in January, had handled over 15% of all public emergency caseloads in the first half of the year, with the activation of its ICU further enhancing its capacity to manage life-threatening conditions.

The two public hospitals will continue to refine staffing deployment in response to fluctuating demand, peak periods, and overnight service needs.

Notably, a new cohort of 35 general practitioners has been assigned to emergency wards to boost capacity at the main public hospital, with further staff deployments planned. An electronic monitoring system now tracks real-time demand and waiting times to facilitate faster redeployment.

Several lawmakers pressed for more detailed data on peak-hour emergency waiting times and medical staffing.

Legislator Che Sai Wang pointed out that prolonged emergency waits had caused anxiety among residents, particularly the elderly and chronically ill, for whom extended waiting times could increase the risk of deterioration, and called on the authorities to analyze actual waiting times by time slot, triage category, and age group.

Legislator Wong Chon Kit suggested upgrading the emergency information features on the Macao One Account platform to include dynamic data such as estimated waiting times by triage level, the number of doctors on duty, and observation ward occupancy rates, to help residents make more informed choices about where to seek care. Legislator Chao Ka Chon raised concerns over the psychological toll on healthcare workers and recommended introducing psychological support, stress relief programs, and an institutionalized mental health support system.

In response, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, O Lam, said: “We will upgrade the interface of the newly introduced emergency waiting dashboard on ‘Macao One Account,’ integrating public and private healthcare information. In addition to the three major hospitals, we will also display real-time waiting numbers and attending doctor counts at community health centers, so that residents can make direct comparisons and choose the most suitable facility.”

The health authorities added that human resource planning is based on demand, replacement of retiring staff, and service expansion, and stressed that the involvement of the Peking Union Medical College Hospital would gradually ease the burden on public hospitals.

She noted that the Conde de São Januário Hospital and the new medical center are maximizing complementarity and resource sharing in terms of space, equipment, and staffing. During previous flu peaks, staff from health centers were deployed to support the emergency department at the main public hospital, demonstrating that cross-departmental redeployment mechanisms were already operational.

“Different departments at the Conde de São Januário Hospital are redeployed as needed, and with additional staffing, we can ensure a reasonable workload for all colleagues,” the SSM director said.

Other lawmakers also called for diverting non-urgent cases to community-based healthcare providers, with the authorities indicating they would actively study the feasibility of such proposals, while reiterating that public hospital resources should be reserved for critical and emergency cases, with non-urgent cases to be managed through the community healthcare system.