A&E tipping points
248 British Journal of Healthcare Management 2015 Vol 21 No 5 © 2 01 5 M A H ea lth ca re L td Figure 2 clearly shows the impact of the last two of these tipping points on AE 2013). No sane health care administration would ever expect to run hospitals at the level of occupancy common in the UK—but sanity appears to be sadly lacking in this case, and the consequences are entirely predictable. The reasons for the sudden jumps in AE Jones and Beauchant, 2015)—although politicians appear determined to avoid any discussion of the real issues for fear of jeopardising their own pet policies. There will be Rod Jones A&E tipping points
Hospital bed occupancy demystified and why hospitals of different size and complexity must run at different average occupancy levels
Part one of this series investigated the adequacy o f current models used to forecast bed demand. This part explores the issues surrounding t he correct level of occupancy required to deliver effective and safe health care. Economy of scale as explained by queuing theory is a significant factor in understanding bed occupancy. However, irrespective of the occupancy specific to different sized hospitals an absolute maximum occupancy (even during the winter months) in the range 82% to 85% is required to maintain the level of hospital acquired infection at the minimum possi ble level.
Synthesis of 2,4-dideoxy-.beta.-D-erythro-hexopyranosyl nucleosides
The synthesis of 1-(2,4-dideoxy-β-D-erythro-hexopyranosyl)thymine (12) 1 was accomplished using two different synthetic routes. It was obtained starting either from 1,2:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-α-D-glucofuranose or from tri-O-acetyl-D-glucal. The other modified nucleosides, with either a cytosine, guanine, or adenine moiety, were synthesized using the second reaction scheme. Deoxygenation reactions were accomplished with the (2,4-dichlorophenoxy)thiocarbonyl derivatives generated in situ