
%0 Journal Article
%A Rae, Brendon 
%A Busby, Wendy 
%A Millard, Peter H 
%T Fast-tracking acute hospital care &mdash; from bed crisis to bed crisis
%J Australian Health Review
%D 2007/02/01
%V 31
%N 1
%P 50-60
%K 
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/AH070050
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/AH070050 
%X We describe here the results of a continuous quality improvement (CQI) project, the Delayed Discharge Project, in a general medicine service in a New Zealand teaching hospital. Average length of stay (ALOS) dropped by 2.6 days (6.5 to 3.9), readmission rates did not rise, costs of service delivery dropped by $2.4 million, patient numbers increased by 145 (2445 to 2590), while bed numbers reduced from 56 to 32 and ward outliers all but disappeared, suggesting success. However, 2 years after the successful cost-saving measures were introduced the new system crashed as a result of additional bed closures and organisational restructures. 
