To the Editor: I have read with interest your recent series of articles on access block.1-3 While access block is clearly bad for patients, it is a measure that is focused on emergency departments and not patients. Access block only measures the first part of the process of admission to hospital. Surely, the best measure of access into a hospital is not the rapidity with which patients get out of the emergency department but how long before patients get into the ward that is most suited for their care.
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- Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Brisbane, QLD.
- 1. Fatovich DM, Hughes G, McCarthy SM. Access block: it’s all about available beds. Med J Aust 2009; 190: 362-363. <MJA full text>
- 2. Cameron PA, Joseph AP, McCarthy SM. Access block can be managed. Med J Aust 2009; 190: 364-368. <MJA full text>
- 3. Richardson DB, Mountain D. Myths versus facts in emergency department overcrowding and hospital access block. Med J Aust 2009; 190: 369-374. <MJA full text>