BackgroundAlthough modern psychiatric services seek alternatives to hospitalisation wherever appropriate, the national trend toward higher bed occupancies on acute psychiatric wards has refocused attention on community-based alternatives and methods of assessing reed for acute care.MethodWe surveyed key decision makers in a community-oriented district service with a low acute psychiatric bed to population ratio, in order to examine alternatives to hospitalisation in a cohort of consecutive admissions over a six-month period.ResultsAlternatives to acute ward hospitalisation were identified for 29% of admissions, and for 42% of those with an admission duration of more than 60 days. Residential options were chosen more often than intensive community support. Simulated bed day savings were considerable.ConclusionsIn a community-oriented service, key decision-makers could identify further alternatives to acute ward hospitalisation, although relatively few non-residential, community support options were chosen. Although this methodology has limitations, data based upon keyworker judgements probably have greater local ‘ownership’, and the option appraisal process itself may challenge stereotyped patterns of resource use.