A simple method to validate medical bed number calculations.

Abstract

Doctors are often asked to make input into bed calculations but are often not provided with the necessary background to the potential flaws in such calculations. A simple method is presented which allows both inter- and intra-national comparison of bed numbers which are sensitive to both population age structure and the role of nearness-to-death in medical bed demand. Local adjustment will be required to account for the additional demand arising for hospitals servicing more deprived populations.