Hospital bed utilisation in the NHS and Kaiser Permanente

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7439.582-c

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Bed management in the NHS can be improved easily

Stephen Black, principal consultant (stephen.black@paconsulting.com),
Nathan Proudlove, lecturer in operational research

PA Consulting, London SW1W 9SR
Manchester School of Management, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, Manchester M60 1QD

EDITOR—The comparison by Ham et al of bed utilisation in the NHS and Kaiser Permanente indicates that the NHS could improve its management of beds drastically but leaves open the possibility that it could be expensive in effort and money to reach the degree of efficiency at Kaiser.1 However, a body of direct evidence from other statistics in the NHS already shows that large improvements are possible and likely to be cheap …