WARD SIZE AND COSTS: a study of a large mental handicap hospital

SUMMARY Costs per patient day are explained with reference to the age, dependency, and sex mix of residents, their degree of physical handicap and behavioural disturbance, and ward size. The number of occupied beds is found to be a significant determinant of costs, and becomes increasingly important as the residents become younger or more dependent. In general, a ward in which the majority of residents are young or dependent minimises its costs when 24 beds are occupied; but the least cost size for wards in which all residents are heavily dependent may be less than 10 beds.