§ Mr. Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department has given to health authorities on the assumptions to be used when calculating hospital bed occupancy rates. [15467]
§ Mr. BoatengThe Department of Health collects information on bed occupancy from National Health Service trusts. Guidance on completion of these central returns is included in the NHS Data Manual, copies of which are available in the Library.
An occupied bed day is defined as "one which is occupied at midnight on the day in question". Occupancy rates are calculated by dividing the number of occupied bed days by the number of available bed days.
For beds in wards only open during the day, an occupied bed day is one in which at least one day case has taken place during the day.