Hospital demand and capacity planning

August 16, 2017 • Reading time 1 minute

A Surrey based hospital needed a detailed understanding of the demands it would face in the future and the implications for its capacity requirements; it asked Edge Health to help them get it.

Edge Health built a model using detailed data (hour by hour, by patient) to support reconfiguration planning and we worked with the trust’s clinicians to assess the impact of alternative patient flow scenarios on capacity. It was critical that clinicians were engaged in the process because they recognise the detail from the cases they manage day to day, which in turn helps build buy-in to the forward planning and service reconfiguration decisions.

The results of the work have been used by the Trust to undertake its planning and also inform operational decision making.


BedPlanner is our hospital demand and capacity model. Equilibrium uses detailed data for each hospital function to model the impact of different demand and capacity scenarios. This is done using predictive analytics, which allow Equilibrium to projects demand into the future under a range of scenarios. The outputs from these are then distilled and summarised for input into the planning process.

Edge Health

Edge Health are a specialist UK healthcare analytics consultancy that use data and insights to improve the delivery of health and care services, so that better outcomes can be delivered more efficiently.

Edge Health are a specialist UK healthcare analytics consultancy that use data and insights to improve the delivery of health and care services, so that better outcomes can be delivered more efficiently.