 |
 |
Very useful clarification re UK practice but back to the original questions. What counts as a hospital bed in other advanced rich countries? lets say OECD members. What level of occupancy is regarded as sensible in such countries, most of which to recognize John's point re costs spend more on health as a % of GDP than the UK? I have always been quite interested in fever /isolation hospitals - a very important part of public health in the era of mass infectious disease and epidemics - due to come again? The sites were often used post WW1 for other things, building the Meadowell Estate in North Shields, as a very nice Youth Hostel in Rothbury Northumberland - that was the original building in Galvanized iron and I used to stay there a lot fifty years ago. David Byrne ________________________________________ From: email list for Radical Statistics [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of John Whittington [[log in to unmask]] Sent: 16 November 2016 12:10 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Hospital beds At 11:52 16/11/2016 +0000, Galbraith, Jane wrote: >Are hospital beds physical beds or are they beds + nurses? I seem to >remember wards being closed due to staffing shortages or cuts which >reduced the number of beds available. That certainly does happen, but I don't know how that is handled as far as statistics are concerned - i.e. whether they talk about occupancy as a percentage of physical beds or 'available' ones. I would suspect the latter - and that is, of course, what matters operationally to those trying to find a bed for a patient. The opposite often happens with doctors, particularly surgeons - the rate-limiting factor in terms of getting elective operations undertaken is often bed (or maybe nurse) availability, rather than surgeon availability. Kind Regards, John ---------------------------------------------------------------- Dr John Whittington, Voice: +44 (0) 1296 730225 Mediscience Services Fax: +44 (0) 1296 738893 Twyford Manor, Twyford, E-mail: [log in to unmask] Buckingham MK18 4EL, UK ---------------------------------------------------------------- ****************************************************** Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your message will go only to the sender of this message. If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically to [log in to unmask] Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk. ******************************************************* ****************************************************** Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your message will go only to the sender of this message. If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically to [log in to unmask] Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk. *******************************************************