HOSPICES are so short of beds that terminally ill patients sometimes have to be put on a waiting list for a place, with some dying before they can be admitted.

On some days, two of the four hospices here, Dover Park and Assisi, have 10 to 20 patients waiting to get in, they said. The waiting time at Assisi can be up to two weeks.

Together with Bright Vision Hospital and St Joseph's Home and Hospice, which were not able to give figures, they provide some 130 beds for a population whose demand for such care is growing as it ages.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.