Bed occupancy rate

How it is used

Reported daily and monthly, by ward and for the whole hospital. It is usually calculated as occupied bed days divided by available bed days. Many managers see rates that stay above about 85% as a warning sign, because there is little room left for emergencies.

Example sentences

1. The bed occupancy rate in the medical wards was 97% last month, so some planned operations had to be postponed.

2. The board wants to see the bed occupancy rate for each ward, not only the hospital average.

Common collocations

• high bed occupancy
• bed occupancy rate target
• monitor bed occupancy
• average bed occupancy rate

Related terms

• capacityThe amount of care a hospital or service can provide with its beds, staff, rooms and equipment in a given time.
• bed managementThe daily work of tracking which beds are free, which patients need them and where each patient should go, so that beds are used well.
• length of stayThe number of days a patient spends in hospital from admission to discharge; the average across many patients is a key efficiency measure.
• patient flowThe movement of patients through a hospital or health system, from arrival and assessment to treatment, transfer and discharge, ideally without unnecessary delays.

More terms: Patient Flow and Capacity

• admission
• discharge
• referral
• waiting list
• waiting time
• triage
• readmission
• discharge planning
• bottleneck
• elective