ABSTRACT
Admission planning refers to the operational planning of patients who need to be admitted as inpatients to a hospital (Kusters and Groot, 1996). Patients to be admitted to a hospital can be classified as elective, urgent or emergency. Elective patients do not have to be treated immediately and can therefore be put on a waiting list, to be called when it is their turn. Alternatively, elective patients can be given an appointment for admission. Urgent patients need to be admitted at short notice, which is usually as soon as a bed becomes available. Emergency patients need to be admitted immediately.
