Background: This study was carried out to measure bed occupancy in Greater London's psychiatric units, in response to the apparent shortage of admission beds.
Method: The bed occupancy of London's 54 National Health Service (NHS) acute psychiatric units within 29 districts was ascertained by telephone on 16 bank holidays covering the period 1990-93.
Results: The mean occupancy level for all London over the 4 years was 97.54% (95% CI- +/- 0.94%). The number of beds occupied in inner London was significantly greater (99.79 +/- 1.11%) than in outer London (95.1 +/- 1.49%) (t = 3.85, d.f. = 462, P < 0.001). Bed occupancy for inner London units was > or = 100% on over 49% of occasions. There has been a steady decline in the number of beds over the four-year period. There was a clear correlation between occupancy levels and the Jarman UPA8 Underprivilege Score (r = 0.504) and between bed provision and the UPA8 (r = 0.67). CONCLUSION. Occupancy rates have become unacceptably high and require careful monitoring. Corrective action may be required in order to prevent a breakdown in services.