Length of Stay
Adding over £1 million every year to the bottom line
Reducing length of stay has a considerable impact on the financial and operational performance of hospitals and means that patients are less likely to pick up infections or become institutionalised. Bed shortages often result in cancelled elective operations, inefficient theatre lists, A&E breaches and a stream of patient complaints.
Newton’s approach allows us to identify the processes that have an impact on length of stay and focus improvements on delays to the critical path, such as pathology turnaround times, handover information, and discharge processes. These improvements are combined with information management to challenge and empower clinicians and managers, making responsibilities and variations in performance clear.
The Newton Bed Management System is a tool designed to help reduce length of stay and maximise bed usage. It allows staff to see actual and forecast bed states and maintains an accurate picture of patient progress so that those requiring decisions or actions to move onto the next stage of their treatment can be prioritised. Our system typically realises savings of over £1 million a year where the bed base or use of escalation beds is reduced.