NHS hospital services face increasing pressure on bed availability as hospital bed numbers contract and emergency admissions rise. Cold weather and norovirus outbreaks add to the strain on a system with no slack. One consequence of this pressure is the 'boarding' of patients out of their own base specialty ward to other wards to accommodate influxes of new patients. A recent survey of members by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh suggests that boarding no longer occurs simply during 'winter pressures' but is a year-round occurrence 1. The perception that boarded patients receive poorer quality of care is evident from a separate small survey of medical staff in which 92 of doctors would refuse to have a relative of theirs boarded out 2, In a welcome joint initiative, the Royal College and the Scottish Government have agreed to review the number and specialty type of beds for acute care, ensure that there are sufficient medical consultants and nurses and encourage daily consultant patient reviews.
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