Nobody notices a free place while the matching enquiry sits in the inbox.
Enquiries arrive by phone, fax and email, each in its own form, some with a diagnosis report, some with a single sentence. The waiting list lives in a spreadsheet maintained by one colleague; the free places are in the ward's occupancy plan. Two callbacks stand between enquiry and confirmation, and the place stays empty all that time.
17enquiries a weekThey arrive by phone, by fax and through two inboxes.
3separate recordsInbox, waiting list spreadsheet and occupancy plan are kept separately.
2callbacks per enquiryIt takes two phone calls to settle the diagnosis group, payer and preferred date.
6empty-bed days a monthThat is how many days a place stays free even though a matching enquiry was already waiting.
With enquiries, waiting list and free capacity in one view, empty-bed days fall by 35%.
The 35% reduction in empty-bed days is this agent's headline figure. The enquiry numbers, records, callbacks and empty-bed days sketch a typical month in a facility; they are not counted values.