We describe the development of a method to distil routinely collected clinical data into patient flow information to aid hospital bed management. Using data from state-wide emergency department and inpatient clinical information systems, a user-friendly interface was developed to visualise patient flow conditions for a particular hospital. The historical snapshots employ a variable time scale, allowing flow to be visualised across a day, week, month or year. Flow information includes occupancy, arrival and departure rates, length-of-stay and access block observations, which can be filtered by age, departure status, diagnosis, elective status, triage category, and admission unit. The tool may be helpful in supporting hospital bed managers in their daily decision making.