[Use of beds in somatic hospitals in Oslo in 1986]

There are more hospital beds available in somatic hospitals in Oslo than in any other county in Norway. Nevertheless, the number of patients discharged from Oslo hospitals is not substantially higher than expected when we consider the demographic composition of the region. The beds in Oslo hospitals are allocated three times more often than hospital beds in other parts of the country to elderly patients needing nursing. Thus the Oslo hospitals seem to take over functions which are normally taken care of elsewhere in Norway at lower levels of treatment. As a result, the annual number of discharged patients per bed is lower in Oslo hospitals than in corresponding Norwegian hospitals elsewhere.