How many beds are needed in maternity units handling different numbers of births

Rodney Jones
2025 · doi:10.22541/au.176414235.51705821/v1
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Abstract

Queuing theory and the Erlang equation are directly applicable to maternity capacity planning and tables can be easily generated linking annual births to the required available beds, with allowance for the total bed days per birth. The total bed days includes any admissions during pregnancy plus during birth (but excluding the time spent in the birthing unit). A figure of 0.1% turn-away has been chosen as the minimum acceptable number of beds, i.e. only 1 in a thousand admissions suffer a delay before a bed can be found.
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Abstract

Queuing theory and the Erlang equation are directly applicable to maternity capacity planning and tables can be easily generated linking annual births to the required available beds, with allowance for the total bed days per birth. The total bed days includes any admissions during pregnancy plus during birth (but excluding the time spent in the birthing unit). A figure of 0.1% turn-away has been chosen as the minimum acceptable number of beds, i.e. only 1 in a thousand admissions suffer a delay before a bed can be found. Supplementary Material File (how many beds.docx) - Download - 55.00 KB Information & Authors Information Version history Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License.

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Authors Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 165views 111downloads Citations Download citation Rodney Jones. How many beds are needed in maternity units handling different numbers of births. Authorea. 26 November 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.176414235.51705821/v1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.176414235.51705821/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download. For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.

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