How Crowded Are Israel’s Children’s Hospital Wards? 91% Mean Occupancy
Israel’s paediatric wards ran at 91% mean occupancy in 2021, on the State Comptroller’s May 2023 audit, with 1,068 budgeted beds in 2020.
Paediatric wards in Israel ran at 91% mean occupancy, the State Comptroller of Israel reported in a May 2023 audit of children’s hospitalization covering 2021. The same audit records 129,000 children admitted to paediatric wards that year, accounting for about 425,000 hospital days, and sets the Israeli occupancy figure beside a 76% OECD average for 2019. It is the Comptroller’s own audit of the Ministry of Health and Israel’s hospitals, and it publishes a mean rather than a seasonal or per-hospital paediatric series.
| Figure | What it counts | Who published it | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 91% | Mean occupancy in paediatric wards | State Comptroller of Israel | 2021 |
| 76% | OECD average occupancy, used in the audit as a comparator | State Comptroller of Israel, citing the OECD | 2019 |
| 129,000 | Children admitted to paediatric wards | State Comptroller of Israel | 2021 |
| about 425,000 | Hospital days in paediatric wards | State Comptroller of Israel | 2021 |
| 1,068 | Budgeted paediatric beds, against 1,089 in 2009 | State Comptroller of Israel | 2020 |
| 553 | Children waiting for inpatient or day psychiatric treatment | State Comptroller of Israel | April 2022 |
| 107.26% | Mean daily internal medicine occupancy across 15 general hospitalisation institutions | Knesset Research and Information Centre | 9 December 2019 |
Paediatric wards ran at 91% mean occupancy in 2021
The 91% is a mean across paediatric wards for one year, published by the State Comptroller of Israel as part of its own audit of the Ministry of Health and Israel’s hospitals, which is one strand of what Israel spends on health and education. The 76% figure printed beside it is an OECD average for 2019, compiled across member states on their own reporting conventions, so the two readings carry different periods and different reporting bases. The audit places them side by side and publishes no combined figure.
Budgeted paediatric beds fell from 1,089 to 1,068 by 2020
The State Comptroller of Israel recorded a fall of about 2% in budgeted paediatric beds between 2009 and 2020, on the Comptroller’s own audit figures. These are beds on establishment, the budgeted count, rather than staffed or occupied beds. The audit states that the count fell slightly over a period in which the child population grew, and the bed series carries no child population figures beside it here.
| Year | Budgeted paediatric beds |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 1,089 |
| 2020 | 1,068 |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, Children’s Hospitalization in Hospitals, May 2023. The change is about 2%.
The 107.26% occupancy figure is internal medicine, not paediatrics
The Knesset Research and Information Centre reported a mean daily internal medicine occupancy of 107.26% across 15 general hospitalisation institutions as at 9 December 2019, with 6 of those 15 above 100%, the highest reported being Hadassah Ein Kerem in Jerusalem at 213.6% and Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv at 145.5%. Those are single-day readings in internal medicine wards, drawn by the Knesset’s own research service from Ministry of Health data, and they cover 15 of the 45 general hospitalisation institutions the paper counts. The Centre also records 16,021 general hospitalisation beds on establishment in January 2019 and 1.78 general hospitalisation beds per 1,000 people, and it states that annual average occupancy data do not allow one to learn the occupancy rate at any particular point in time. Occupancy above 100% is measured against beds on establishment.
553 children waited for inpatient or day psychiatric treatment
The State Comptroller of Israel counted 553 children waiting for inpatient or day psychiatric treatment in April 2022, on the Comptroller’s own audit of Israel’s hospitals and the Ministry of Health. That is a point-in-time queue covering inpatient and day treatment together, and not an annual count. The audit publishes waiting times for children’s surgery separately.
- 553 children waiting for inpatient or day psychiatric treatment, April 2022, on the State Comptroller’s count.
- 15.4 weeks mean wait for a child’s tonsillectomy in public hospitals in 2022, with a median of 15 weeks, published in the same audit.
- Both are counts of waiting, on a different measure from ward occupancy.
No Israeli body here publishes a winter peak occupancy figure
The State Comptroller of Israel published a mean occupancy figure, annual admission and hospital-day totals, a budgeted bed series and waiting counts, each dated. What the record set out here does not carry is a seasonal reading.
- The Comptroller’s May 2023 audit publishes no month-by-month or seasonal paediatric occupancy series.
- It publishes no per-hospital paediatric occupancy figure and no count of patients placed outside ward beds.
- The Knesset Research and Information Centre reported occupancy for internal medicine on one dated day in 2019, and not for paediatric wards.
- The nearest adjacent Israeli audit, the Comptroller’s Waiting Times for Specialist Medical Services of November 2024, surveyed 954 insured adults at a 74% response rate, of whom 72% had needed a specialist in the past year, and addresses specialist appointments for insured adults rather than paediatric ward occupancy.
Which figures here may not be added or compared?
The 91% paediatric mean for 2021 and the 76% OECD average for 2019 carry different periods and different reporting conventions, and the audit prints them side by side rather than as one series. The 129,000 is admissions and the about 425,000 is hospital days; dividing one into the other produces a mean length of stay the State Comptroller of Israel does not publish. Budgeted beds are beds on establishment, not staffed or occupied beds. Occupancy above 100% is a rate against beds on establishment, and the Knesset Research and Information Centre reports it for internal medicine on a single day and for 15 institutions only. The 553 is a queue on one date in April 2022, covering inpatient and day treatment together.
Questions readers ask
What is the published occupancy rate for Israel’s paediatric wards?
The State Comptroller of Israel published 91% mean occupancy in paediatric wards for 2021, in its May 2023 audit of children’s hospitalization.
Which body publishes paediatric occupancy in Israel?
The State Comptroller of Israel published the paediatric occupancy figure as part of its audit of the Ministry of Health and Israel’s hospitals.
How many children are admitted to paediatric wards each year?
The State Comptroller of Israel recorded 129,000 children admitted to paediatric wards in 2021, accounting for about 425,000 hospital days.
How many paediatric beds does Israel have?
The State Comptroller of Israel counted 1,068 budgeted paediatric beds in 2020, against 1,089 in 2009.
Are those beds staffed beds?
The State Comptroller of Israel reported budgeted beds, the count on establishment, rather than staffed or occupied beds.
Is there an official Israeli figure for winter peak crowding in children’s wards?
The State Comptroller of Israel published a mean occupancy figure for 2021 and no month-by-month or seasonal paediatric series in that audit.
Where does the figure above 100% occupancy come from?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre reported a mean daily internal medicine occupancy of 107.26% across 15 general hospitalisation institutions as at 9 December 2019.
Which hospitals reported the highest occupancy in that paper?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre reported Hadassah Ein Kerem at 213.6% and Sourasky Medical Center at 145.5% for internal medicine on 9 December 2019.
How many hospital beds does Israel have overall?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre recorded 16,021 general hospitalisation beds on establishment in January 2019, and 1.78 beds per 1,000 people in 2019.
Why does the Knesset paper give a single-day reading?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre states that annual average occupancy data do not allow one to learn the occupancy rate at any particular point in time.
How long do children wait for surgery?
The State Comptroller of Israel put the mean wait for a child’s tonsillectomy in public hospitals at 15.4 weeks in 2022, with a median of 15 weeks.
How many children are waiting for psychiatric hospitalisation?
The State Comptroller of Israel counted 553 children waiting for inpatient or day psychiatric treatment in April 2022.
Does the OECD comparator measure the same thing as the Israeli figure?
The State Comptroller of Israel printed a 76% OECD average for 2019 beside its 91% Israeli figure for 2021, and the two carry different periods and reporting conventions.
Is there an Israeli audit of adult waiting times?
The State Comptroller of Israel published Waiting Times for Specialist Medical Services in November 2024, covering specialist appointments for insured adults.
Sources
- Knesset Research and Information Centre, 2019. General Hospitalization Beds in Israel. Written by Aharon Blank and Flora Koch Davidovich, 11 December 2019. fs.knesset.gov.il. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2023. Children’s Hospitalization in Hospitals. Ministry of Health chapter, annual report, May 2023. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2024. Waiting Times for Specialist Medical Services. Chapter 601, annual report 75A part B, November 2024. library.mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
