Better planning frees 1500 bed nights in Hawke's Bay

Patients at Hawke's Bay Fallen Soldiers' Memorial Hospital are getting home faster, with better planning freeing up more than 1,500 bed nights over the past year, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. "When a patient is well enough to leave, every extra night they spend on a ward is a night away from their family and their own routine. It also means that bed is not available for someone else who needs it," Mr Brown says. A bed night is a single night in a single hospital bed, so each one freed up is a night that bed was available for another patient. "Staff at Hawke's Bay have reduced the number of patients left waiting in hospital after they are medically cleared to go home by 57 per cent, freeing up 1,515 bed nights over the year. "A year ago, an average of 21 patients a day were medically cleared to leave hospital but unable to be discharged. It is now down to nine patients a day. "That is a significant result, and it reflects the practical, efficient improvements being made across the health system every day. "It also matters for our emergency departments, where our target is for 95 per cent of patients to be admitted, discharged, or transferred within six hours. "A patient who ne