Bed Management | Meridian Productivity

Issues within bed management teams (BMT) manifest in similar patterns across the country. These include inefficiencies stemming from inappropriate admissions, a lack of transparency regarding available beds within supervised wards, and inadequate oversight of patients in private beds elsewhere.

These challenges result in patients in private beds experiencing extended stays, individuals being sent out of the local area when no internal beds are available, and unnecessary time spent on triage functions that should have been completed prior to involving the bed management team.

Meridian adopts a comprehensive approach, working in tandem with all components of the process—typically the BMT, inpatient wards, and crisis teams—to establish an effective gatekeeping procedure. This strategy prevents unwarranted admissions and streamlines the overall process.

The outcome is twofold: firstly, it liberates BMT resources, enabling them to focus on those currently located out of the immediate area and facilitating earlier repatriation; secondly, it allocates time for engagement within wards, fostering a clearer understanding of impending discharges. This, in turn, permits better coordination with admission waiting lists, curbing the utilisation of private beds and optimising resource usage.

Case Studies: Bed Management

Health Visiting, District Nursing, Bed Management

The new APO had one mission; to take over the running of all provider services for Outer Northeast London. It was vital that they could run a streamlined, productive and well managed system of community services.

Adult Mental Health – Acute Inpatient Wards & Community Mental Health Teams

Meridian identified that there was no discharge planning or discharge dates for patients, therefore no review of planned discharges and no proactive action to remove the barriers to discharge.

References

"The outcome of the process, across the three services has been very positive with significant return on investment by the end of the twenty-six week project term. We have calculated that we can achieve more bed days and will be able to treat increased patient numbers within existing resources."