What is bed management?

Patient flow is at the heart of bed management, but what is patient flow? It describes the movement of people within a hospital or care setting, from admission to discharge, but it also follows the patient journey.

It is important because of the sheer volume of demand for care within the NHS and the private sector. Without careful, dedicated management there is a risk of increased re-admission and increased mortality rates.

Using bed management software, staff can plan around the individual. They can monitor patient admissions and discharges to track bed availability, meaning that people can be placed on the most appropriate wards to ensure a consistent high level of care throughout the hospital.

This flow of people is crucial to getting the most value and efficiency out of the beds and care services on offer at any given moment. 

A bed manager is the member of staff responsible for the constant monitoring of patient admissions, discharges, and the flow of people within a hospital.  

Bed management software allows the bed manager to track the ins and outs within the hospital and to efficiently organise which patients go where.

This is especially helpful in times of increased demand as patients on the mend can be safely moved to different wards, freeing up acute care beds for priority patients.

Bed management highlights which areas of the hospital need further support and which wards can help with that. Bed use has increased but bed supply has not. The volume of patients being treated has increased. The nature of admittance to hospital is changing as surgery improves, meaning more day surgery and short-stay hospital visits. 

Simple attention to detail supports both clinical and administrative staff, saving them time to assist other patients. It also means that patients aren’t waiting unnecessarily for treatment.  

According to the Quality Care Commission, poor hospital bed management makes patients feel that their care is unsafe, of poor quality and uncoordinated. Patient welfare is always the priority in healthcare, so the bed manager has a crucial task in ensuring a smooth hospital operation that keeps patients happy and staff from being overwhelmed. 

• Bed management creates a better and safer environment for patients. By promoting coordination between all the different hospital departments and their wards, patients experience fewer delays for treatment. This reduces their anxiety around their health, but also improves their satisfaction with the care. They feel like a priority, that they are being taken seriously, and that expert help is being provided to help them heal. 
• Effective hospital bed management helps staff focus on other important details. There is already a burden of information management for staff on top of the typical clinical work. Overworked staff are at greater risk of making mistakes. Information not yet digitised can be missed, patient data might be misread through tiredness. By keeping patient traffic flowing around the hospital a good bed manager – with the appropriate software tools – can ensure patient happiness, staff effectiveness, and optimal care.
• Bed management supports staff. Proper monitoring prevents communication failures and reduces mistakes and delays. A smooth system prevents staff from being overloaded by too many patients as well, keeping them focused on the individual rather than worrying about the larger demand for care. 

The Carter Review in 2016 states: ‘The best performing hospital systems around the world have real-time monitoring and reporting at their fingertips, enabling them to make decisions on a daily, weekly and monthly basis to improve quality and efficiency performance.’

In acute settings, decisions are made even more quickly, often on a second-by-second basis. Effective bed management supports decision making for clinicians and bed managers and has a positive impact on their jobs, as well as on each patient’s quality of care.

Bed management benefits for the patient

Effective bed management positively impacts the patient in the following ways: 

• Improved communication and better quality of data support better care and deliver an improved experience
• Clinicians have all the information to make informed decisions in the best interest of the person
• Live monitoring of clients' conditions, real-time data view and access to records through the digital whiteboard ensures safety
• Prevents delayed transfer of care (DTOC)

Bed management benefits for the clinician

Effective bed management positively impacts the clinical staff and hospital teams.

• Enables a real-time bed state via touch screen admission, transfer and discharge and live monitoring of clients' conditions, reviews and service requests on the ward to ensure clients receive the best possible care
• Empowers frontline workers by improving communication and user engagement with access to up-to-date info in real-time
• Allows bed management teams to manage, maintain and allocate bed requests using an allocation and capacity view, saving time and increasing efficiency
• Enhances working practices and process by reducing the need to duplicate work into multiple systems, saving time and increasing efficiency

Bed management benefits for trusts

• Clear view of overall bed occupation throughout the hospital at any point, ensuring safety and improving quality of care
• Facilitates multi-disciplinary team discussion regarding clients ensuring they’re fully monitored and data is up-to-date
• Reduces paper-based processes and promotes safe wards
• Promotes better discharge planning and helps prevent delayed transfer of care (DTOC)
• Assists in making quicker, more informed decisions on beds and improved client experience