Although the programs are of increasing popularity, little has been published on the effects of discharging maternity patients early from the hospital. In particular, there is almost no evidence to date to prove that these programs actually achieve two objectives for which they were designed; to reduce occupancy pressure on maternity beds and to lower hospital costs. Evaluation of the early stages of a relatively small and flexible maternity early discharge program in Alberta, Canada suggests that the program is effective in reducing length of stay in the hospital and hospital costs, but there is little evidence that it is actually used to reduce pressure on bed space in the maternity unit.