02 November 2018
Thai Quoc Khanh
Via Ema
il: [FYI request #8867 email]
Dear Thai Quoc Khanh,
Official Information Act (1982) Request
I write in response to your Official Information Act request, received on transfer from the Ministry of
Health under section 14 of the OIA on 23 October 2018.
You requested the fol owing information:
The number of beds at DHBs, and found that the statistics on bed count by DHB from 2013 to 2015
are available. However, it seems that the bed count at each DHB in 2016 and 2017 has not been
updated.
•
Could you please kindly provide me the number of available beds as wel as occupancy rate
at each DHB in 2016 and 2017?
For Counties Manukau DHB, we confirm the following information for total physical capacity of beds.
In August 2017, the Ministry of Health reported our CMDHB Bed census (covering FY 2016.17) as:
• 917 inpatient and maternity beds (adult/ paediatric medical and surgical beds, rehabilitation
beds, maternity (ante & post-natal, excluding baby cots), as wel as the Intensive Care and
Neonatal unit beds and beds at our satellite hospitals)
• Plus 90 Mental Health inpatient beds, (20 of which provide a regional facility), and excluding
contracted NGO provider beds.
As at August 2018 (covering FY 2017/18), our current maximum physical Bed census is
• 963 inpatient and maternity beds - covering the same range of services as noted above. The
increase in capacity from August 2017 numbers reflects additional adult medical beds added
for winter reflecting very high demand in 2017, and a smal difference in definition of
resourced beds between the two reports.
• Plus 90 Mental Health inpatient beds, (20 of which provide a regional facility), and excluding
contracted NGO provider beds.
Our emergency department has a further 146 beds, including Resuscitation and monitored area,
Medical and Surgical Short stay and Assessment, and Paediatric short stay areas. Additionally, there
Counties Manukau District Health Board
19 Lambie Drive, Manukau, Auckland 2104 | Private Bag 94052, Manukau, Auckland 2241
T: 09 276 0000 | cmdhb.org.nz
are “chairs and other non-beds” provided, which support delivery of acute assessment, short stay
and procedure units, outpatient clinics and diagnostic rooms, day-stay surgery, delivery suites,
emergency department trolley’s.
Variations in bed count data from different sources may be due to different counting methods, the
timing of a count, and definitions of what constitutes a bed (for example Day stay and Clinic
treatment chairs, Emergency Department trolley). There is also a difference between ‘maximum
physical bed capacity’ and resourced (open) capacity.
Regarding your request for hospital occupancy data for 2016 and 2017, again there can be
methodology variation between reporting systems, and we would urge caution in comparing data
between different DHBs, as inclusions and exclusions can affect the reported rates.
Please refer to
Table 1 (below) that shows a summary of capacity for calendar year 2016 and 2017
(as median occupancy rate). The data is in our adult acute ward specialties at Middlemore Hospital,
being Medical, Surgical and Adult Rehabilitation/ Health of Older People (ARHOP). In addition, the
calculation is based on occupancy of ‘open’ and staffed beds, rather than maximum physical
capacity.
Most Common
Calendar
Occurrence
Year
Service Group
Median
Rate
Rate
No. Days
2016
Medical Surgical, ARHOP Combined
96%
94%
42
Medical
98%
100%
25
Surgical
92%
89%
27
ARHOP
95%
99%
29
2017
Medical Surgical, ARHOP Combined
98%
99%
40
Medical
105%
101%
22
Surgical
96%
97%
32
ARHOP
86%
90%
31
Table 1
This table reflects capacity at 7:00am, showing the occupancy of available (open) beds, being a total
current occupied beds and numbers waiting for admission in the Emergency Department. This is not
the same as a midnight census, but better captures daily demand.
Please note: we have excluded from this data the capacity in specialist clinical areas, such as Mental
Health, Maternity and Paediatrics, as wel as the Critical Care complex. These areas have different
clinical parameters and occupancy arrangements, and that inclusion can distort the occupancy rates
of acute ward areas.
Demand for hospital admission varies depending on a wide range of variables, including time of day,
time of year and season. The number of beds available in each service on any given day may include
over-census, short-stay and flex-beds and unbudgeted beds opened in times of additional demand.
Beds are ‘opened and closed’ on a daily basis in response to demands and staffing, and during winter
we allocate additional capacity to the medical specialties.
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I trust this information satisfactorily answers your query. If you are not satisfied with this response
you are entitled to seek a review of the response by the Ombudsman under section 28(3) of the
Official Information Act.
Please note that this response or an edited version of this may be published on the Counties
Manukau DHB website.
Yours sincerely,
Fepulea’i Margie Apa
Chief Executive
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