The Role of Cellma in Patient Flow and Bed Management
Table of Contents Help Others Discover – Click to Share! Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Table of Contents THE PRESSURE POINT: 92.5% general and acute bed occupancy in Q4 2025/26 – with 94,737 of 102,423 beds occupied. 92.5% general and acute bed occupancy in Q4 2025/26. 94,737 of 102,423 beds occupied. 95.7% adult general and acute bed occupancy in the first week of January 2026. 75% of A&E patients admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours in August 2026, against a 78% operational target. 140,000+ A&E patients waiting more than 12 hours in the same month. 13,815 patients medically fit for discharge but still in hospital in January 2025. 6.1 days average delay per patient. Around 324,000 lost bed days in one month. The numbers, at a glance: Metric Figure General and acute bed occupancy (Q4 2025/26) 92.5% Beds occupied 94,737 / 102,423 Adult G&A bed occupancy (first week of Jan 2026) 95.7% A&E patients seen within 4 hours (Aug 2026) 75% (target 78%) A&E patients waiting 12+ hours (Aug 2026) 140,000+ Medically fit for discharge, still in hospital (Jan 2025) 13,815 Average delay per patient 6.1 days Lost bed days in one month ~324,000 NHS App registered users 39M+ NHS App monthly logins 62.3M Secondary-care appointment views per month ~13M Meanwhile, the NHS App had 39M+ registered users, 62.3M monthly logins and around 13M secondary-care appointment views each month, showing the scale at which digital access is already part of the patient journey. The direction of travel is clear. The NHS 10 Year Health Plan for England is built around three major shifts: hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention. For acute trusts, this means patient flow cannot be managed only inside the ED or wards. It requires better links between A&E, SDEC, inpatient teams, discharge teams, community services, virtual wards, primary care and patients themselves. Patient flow and bed management in acute care therefore needs connected data, real-time visibility and digital tools that support the whole pathway rather than isolated departments. Acute Flow Is More Than Finding an Empty Bed When an ED is full, the problem is rarely just a lack of beds. An ambulance handover may be delayed because there is no capacity in the ED. Patients may then wait in corridors. Admissions can queue because there are no staffed ward beds. Ward teams can struggle to discharge patients because community or social care support is not ready. That delays the next admission. The cycle continues. This is why patient flow and bed management in acute care has to look beyond bed numbers. The NHS has maintained general and acute bed occupancy above 90% continuously since September 2021. Sustained occupancy above 92% is already regarded as a pressure point for safe and effective flow, yet actual demand continues to push beyond this level. Delayed discharge makes the problem worse. In 2025, around 12,906 patients per day were reported as medically fit for discharge but remained in hospital. Delays can arise from the availability of social care, rehabilitation, reablement, community services, equipment, assessments or suitable accommodation. For acute trusts, every delayed discharge has a knock-on effect: A bed that cannot be released cannot be used for the next patient → A patient waiting for admission occupies ED capacity → ED crowding increases ambulance delays → Staff spend more time coordinating information manually → Clinical teams have less visibility of what is happening elsewhere in the pathway The result is not simply an operational problem. It becomes a patient-safety issue. The NHS Is Already Moving Towards Connected Care The NHS 10 Year Health Plan places greater emphasis on hospital-to-community care, neighbourhood health services, virtual wards, same-day emergency care and better discharge pathways. The Urgent and Emergency Care Plan 2025/26 reinforces this direction through the Home First and discharge-to-assess approach. Acute trusts are expected to improve daily discharge performance, including Pathway 0 discharges, while working with local authorities and community services across Pathways 1–3. This changes what an acute-care digital system needs to deliver. A PAS or EPR cannot operate as a standalone repository of patient information. It needs to support the movement of patients through the system. That means connecting: ED and A&E SDEC and ambulatory care Inpatient wards Bed management teams Admissions and transfers Discharge planning Community and intermediate care Virtual wards Primary care Referrals Pharmacy and diagnostics Patients and carers Operational and clinical teams This is where Cellma fits. Why Cellma for Patient Flow and Bed Management? Cellma is an AI-powered EHR and HIMS designed to connect clinical, operational and administrative processes across healthcare settings. For acute providers, the value is not simply having another digital record. It is having one connected environment through which patient information, activity and workflows can move with the patient. Cellma brings together capabilities across PAS, EMR, scheduling, referrals, clinical documentation, e-prescribing, pharmacy, communications, billing, document management, business intelligence and patient-facing services. This creates a stronger foundation for patient flow and bed management in acute care, because teams can work from connected information instead of relying on separate systems, phone calls, spreadsheets, paper notes or repeated data entry. From Admission to Discharge A patient journey can involve multiple teams within a short period. The patient may arrive through ED, move to SDEC or an inpatient ward, require investigations, receive treatment, transfer between teams and eventually move to community or home-based care. Cellma supports this journey through connected PAS and clinical functionality. Teams can access relevant patient information, record activity, manage appointments and referrals, document clinical care and support discharge processes within the same wider ecosystem. This matters on the ground: Role What They Need Bed manager To know what beds are available Ward team To know which patients are ready for discharge ED team Visibility of admission capacity Discharge coordinator To know whether the next step is home, rehabilitation, reablement, community care or another service Clinician The right clinical information at the point of decision-making Connected information helps these teams work from the same picture. Interoperability Is Central