Hospital Bed Scarcity

Economic analysis is becoming a powerful tool for the efficient administration of public programmes. Techniques of public expenditure evaluation have already been widely applied to problems of water resource development, defence and transport. Econometric investigations are being used in studies of urban areas and transport services. This article is an example of the use of economic analysis in studying the operation of health care systems. Since its inception in 1948, the National Health Service (N.H.S.) has tried to achieve not only a more just distribution of medical services but also a more efficient use of the nation's health care resources. Although the early years of the service saw the latter aim overshadowed by the attempt to curtail spending and reduce costs, the Ministry of Health has more recently shown a renewed interest in improving the service's efficiency.2 A previous article reviewed this growing interest and discussed the contribution that economic analysis could make in providing a conceptual framework for choosing among competing potential uses of health care resources.3 In the present study we examine the effects of area differences in the scarcity of hospital beds on the way in which these beds are used. We show the surprising result that the number of cases treated per 1,000 population is more responsive to bed scarcity than is the average duration of stay per case. We then discuss the responsiveness to bed scarcity of patients in different age-sex groups and diagnostic categories. These findings are not only interesting in themselves to anyone concerned with the operation of the N.H.S., but also suggest some policy consequences. In addition, they illustrate the way in which analysis of this kind can improve understanding and uncover previously unrecognized problems. DATA

Actuarial science · Business · Christian ministry · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Environmental health · Health care · Microeconomics · Political science · Population · Public economics · Public health · Resource (disambiguation) · Resource allocation · Resource distribution · Scarcity · Service (business) · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Global Health Care Issues · Medicine · Nursing

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