Bed accessibility in a private psychiatric hospital

Objective: Access to beds is a major problem in many psychiatric services and increased waiting times can lead to adverse health outcomes. While there has been a considerable amount of research evaluating bed management systems in public psychiatric services, the private sector has received little attention. This project aimed to determine the time to admission for patients referred to an acute private psychiatric hospital, and to identify factors contributing to time intervals between referral and admission. Method: All staff involved in the admission process engaged in an ongoing, interactive data collection process. Accurate data on waiting times for acute patients was obtained and fed back to credentialed admitting psychiatrists. Results: Determinants of admission were clarified. For urgent admissions, the longest time interval was between the patient being advised that a bed was available and actually presenting themselves at the hospital. Conclusion: The project was effective in clarifying admission flow in a private psychiatric hospital. Some strategies that might reduce time intervals between referral and admission are described.Cherrie Galletly, Stacy Bell, Cassandra Burton and Carol Turnbul