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. 2007 Sep;100(9):561-6.
doi: 10.1093/qjmed/hcm064. Epub 2007 Jul 30.

Influence of prolonged hospitalization on overall bed occupancy: a five-year single-centre study

M P Quinn  1 , A E Courtney, D G Fogarty, D O'reilly, C Cardwell, P T McNamee
Affiliations
Free article

Influence of prolonged hospitalization on overall bed occupancy: a five-year single-centre study

M P Quinn et al. QJM. 2007 Sep.
Free article

Abstract

Background: Effective bed use is crucial to an efficient NHS. Current targets suggest a decrease in mean occupancy as the most appropriate method of improving overall efficiency. The elderly and those suffering from complex medical problems are thought to account for a high proportion of overall bed occupancy.

Aim: To assess the effect of prolonged hospital stay (>100 days) on overall bed occupancy in a modern teaching hospital.

Design: Retrospective analysis.

Methods: Analysis of all admission episodes (n = 117,178) over a five-year period in a large teaching hospital in a single UK region, serving a population of approximately 200,000. A logistic regression multi-factorial model was used to assess the effect of demographic and diagnostic variables on duration of stay.

Results: A prolonged stay (>100 days) was seen in 648 admission episodes (0.6%). These accounted for 11% of the overall bed occupancy over the 5-year period. Excluding all prolonged admission episodes from our analysis made no difference to the overall median length of stay.

Discussion: Prolonged hospitalizations have a significant impact on bed occupancy. Targeting these very long (>100 days) hospital stays may better improve overall efficiency, compared to targeting mean or median length of stay.

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