Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), a 360–390-bed acute tertiary referral hospital in inner Melbourne, began to experience an acute increase in access block from early 2000. Over the previous few years, there had been a gradual reduction in acute bed numbers and a marked reduction in subacute and nursing home beds in the area serviced by the hospital. At the same time, patient throughput, as measured in weighted inlier equivalent separations (WEIS), had not decreased. The access block was manifest by ambulance bypass of up to 150 hours per month in 2001, worsening access of emergency patients to inpatient beds, and increasing and chaotic theatre cancellations for elective patients.
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