NHS forced to provide 4,500 extra beds a day

Hospitals had to provide 4,500 extra beds a day at the height of the pressures this winter to avoid “a full-blown crisis”, NHS bosses have revealed.

That is the equivalent of creating more than eight extra hospitals to cope with unprecedented demand in recent months when large numbers of patients were stuck on trolleys and in the back of ambulances outside A&E units.

The NHS in England came under such intense pressure that patients found hospitals “distressing and potentially dangerous”, according to a report from NHS Providers.

The organisation, which represents the majority of NHS trusts in England, claims hospitals are close to “breaking point” as they become overcrowded all year round.

Its analysis of NHS England data on how hospitals performed during December, January and February shows they had to add sometimes dozens of “escalation” beds at short notice so they could admit every patient who needed to stay in. Some used rehabilitation gyms and other areas not usually used for patients.

Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “This has been the busiest winter ever for the NHS. Be in no doubt, these figures show a system running hot and – in particular times and places – overwhelmed by the demands placed on it, risking patient safety.”

In the NHS’s busiest week this winter, between 30 January and 5 February, hospitals opened up a total of 32,558 additional beds. They created almost as many overflow beds in the first half of February, when cold weather added to existing pressures.

Patients had to be diverted from one hospital A&E unit to another 476 times over the winter – almost double the 266 of last winter, NHS Providers says.

“As pressure continues to grow, the likelihood of more trusts reaching and moving beyond breaking point increases,” said Deborah Gulliver, a senior research analyst with NHS Providers. “For patients these difficulties are distressing and potentially dangerous. They are also demotivating and demoralising for the clinical workforce. It is thanks to the extraordinary efforts of frontline staff that we have made it through this winter period without a full-blown crisis. However, trusts are telling us that it was a close-run thing.”

The heavy demand on the NHS all year round was leading to worryingly high levels of bed occupancy, she added. Bed occupancy reached 96% this winter, above the 85% considered safe.

“So the resilience of trusts to deal with unexpected spikes in pressure, such as flu outbreaks and norovirus, is compromised. We cannot afford to ride our luck indefinitely,” Gulliver said.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said: “This stark warning from NHS Providers makes clear this has been an NHS winter like never before.

“Theresa May’s refusal to take seriously the twin threat of NHS underfunding and rising demand has pushed services to the brink. The direct result of the prime minister’s stubbornness has been a collapse in standards of patient care, with the worst performance on record for A&E and most hospitals dangerously overcrowded.”

NHS Providers is urging Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, to order a review of how the NHS coped this winter in order to learn lessons and prevent hospitals from coming so close to not coping in future. The current situation is “not sustainable” for the NHS or patients, it argues.

Meanwhile, a poll of 96 MPs of all parties by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, which represents A&E doctors, has found that only 33% of them believe A&E departments have enough money and staff to provide safe care. More than six in 10 MPs believe A&E departments need more money, said the college.

NHS forced to provide 4,500 extra beds a day

Hospitals in England told to put operations on hold to free up beds

Hospitals in England have been told to put most operations on hold over Christmas to ensure enough beds are free for patients who need emergency treatment.

The health service regulator, NHS Improvement, has asked all hospitals that provide acute care to postpone most of their planned operations in a drive to make more beds available over the winter break.

In a letter to NHS Trusts, the regulator said surgery would have to be rescheduled if hospitals were to reduce their bed occupancy to 85% from 19 December to 16 January, when pressure on the health service is expected to be at its most intense. According to NHS England, hospital bed occupancy currently stands at about 95%.

Many hospitals take steps to wind down the number of operations they perform over the Christmas period, but the letter obtained by the Health Service Journal states that operations may need to be postponed “beyond any current plans”.

It says: “Given the level of risk facing the system, it is clear that having sufficient bed capacity going into Christmas is critical, and we know most organisations will already have this in hand as part of local planning arrangements.

“In preparing for managing winter pressures, it is recommended that all providers pace their elective work by introducing elective breaks where trusts cease most in-patient elective activity and focus on treating emergence activity and non-admitted patients.”

Admissions to hospital emergency departments tend to spike over the winter because of the cold weather and a rise in respiratory infections.

The NHS Providers chief executive, Chris Hopson, told the Health Service Journal that the guidance was “another classic example of how trusts are now caught between a rock and a hard place” of meeting surgical targets while coping with ever rising emergency demands. “Trust chiefs tell us it’s increasingly difficult to deliver both,” he said.

“This guidance does go further than before, for example in specifying a target bed occupancy level as the holiday period starts, but it is in line with the direction of travel over the last few years,” Hopson added.

The letter, dated 9 December, came to light as the Nuffield Trust warned that pressure on beds in NHS England hospitals had become so intense that on any given day last winter the equivalent of more than five extra hospitals’ worth of beds had to be brought into service.

On the busiest day last winter, 26 January, hospitals had to find a record 4,390 extra beds, the equivalent to the capacity of seven hospitals. With the pressure on beds so acute, the Nuffield report said hospital managers would find it harder to deal with emergency patients within four hours of their arrival in A&E departments as targets require.

Beds have come under increasing pressure in the past few years as more people are referred to hospital and medically fit patients are not discharged on time. Delays in discharging patients stand at a record high, up 27% on last year, as do trolley waits, up 54% in the year to October. John Appleby, the Nuffield Trust’s chief economist, said: “It’s a big sign the system isn’t working that efficiently.”

He said the call on hospitals to free up more beds over Christmas showed a “tinge of anxiety” over the levels of bed occupancy in the NHS. “It’s a bit invidious,” he said. “But clearly emergencies must take priority.”

Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said: “This leaked memo represents a damning indictment of Theresa May’s mismanagement of the NHS. The Tory failure to provide the NHS with the funding it needs means that hospitals are having to close operating theatres over Christmas just to get through the winter.

“This short-term fix is only going to store up problems for next year and leave more and more people stuck on waiting lists when already almost 4 million people are waiting for an operation. Starving the NHS and social care sector of the investment they need simply can’t be allowed to continue.”

A spokesperson for NHS Improvement said: “NHS providers will be doing all they can to make sure their patients are able to receive quality care during the busy Christmas period. A reduction of elective hospital activity in the run-up to Christmas is standard practice, and well rehearsed by NHS providers.

“Many hospital trusts also routinely wind down elective activities in the run-up to the Christmas and new year period, as patients do not wish to be in hospital over the festive period and those who are medically fit for discharge want to return home. This also frees additional capacity.

“Cancellations should be kept to an absolute minimum and, in trusts where elective work does need restricting, then the decisions should always be taken using appropriate clinical reviews to ensure patient needs are met.”

Hospitals in England told to put operations on hold to free up beds

Acutely ill children waiting nine hours for beds in intensive care

Seriously ill children are waiting up to nine hours for an intensive care bed to become available, while others are being transported up to 120 miles from their homes to receive the medical treatment they urgently need, senior paediatricians have revealed.

In the last two weeks, at least 17 children with acute illnesses requiring intensive care have had to be transported out of their regions because of a lack of beds. Some paediatric intensive care units, treating the most seriously ill children, are worked at 150% of their capacity, such is the level of demand and lack of resources, according to the Paediatric Intensive Care Society. As of Friday night, there were just four beds available in England and one in Belfast.

The revelations illustrate the stress being faced by the NHS this winter. New figures provided by the Labour party additionally show that, in October, only 67.3% of ambulances for the most seriously ill adults and children, who are not breathing or do not have a pulse, arrived on the scene within eight minutes of being called, against a target of 75%.

Dr Peter-Marc Fortune, a consultant paediatrician and president of the Paediatric Intensive Care Society, said the network of intensive care units had been officially designated “critcon 2” at a national level, meaning that the system was running at “full stretch”.

Last week the Observer revealed that units in London and Leicester were at full capacity.

Fortune said the situation was now “hottest” in the north of England and added that he feared paediatric intensive care units nationally could in the coming days be designated as “critcon 3”, defined as an unprecedented situation under which three of the four regions declare themselves as working at maximum capacity.

He said: “I have heard back from about a third of the units in the country. None of them were running at less than capacity. And there were reports of anything up to 150% of what would be the commissioned full level.

“I would not suggest that anyone has come to any harm, and it is important to say that. However, we are concerned that the system is stretched to capacity and that any further stress on the system will risk a reduction in safety standards.

Dr Peter-Marc Fortune, president of the Paediatric Intensive Care Society

“We are in this position because we commission a certain number of beds in the country and during the year that capacity copes.

“But we believe, anecdotally, it runs above the international safety standard of 85% of capacity. Most units are reporting that over the year. When we come to the pinch points, which is traditionally the second and third weeks of December, you are obviously going to stress the system at that time. It is being pushed to its absolute limits.”

Fortune said he was aware in the last two weeks of a child having to be transported 120 miles to an intensive care bed, and a second case in which an acutely ill child had to wait nine hours before a free bed could be identified.

He said: “Fortunately with that particular child we were able to deliver all the therapies via our mobile team. There are therapies that require a child to be physically in an intensive care unit. We are being forced into a triage situation because we don’t have the ability to move children immediately into beds full time.

“While our mobile teams – of which there are only one or sometimes two for a brief period of time in each of the regions – are tied up they cannot respond to another case, perhaps in a different general hospital. People there will be very able to do the initial care but as things step up they cease to be in a comfort zone. It’s certainly not ideal.”

Fortune, who called for a review of paediatric critical care services being undertaken by the NHS to address the lack of resources, added: “In itself the time on the road is not a problem as long as the child doesn’t become unstable in that time. And our teams are very good at getting them stable. But you clearly want them to be able to get from a place of security to the ultimate place of security, which is intensive care, as fast as possible. And that ideally does not mean travelling 120 miles.”

Details of the current situation have emerged as a report from the Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (Picanet) lays bare the strains on the system. In 2015, only a third (29%) of the country’s paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) met the nursing establishment levels currently recommended by the Paediatric Intensive Care Society.

One in five referrals for admission to a PICU are refused, with nearly two thirds of these refusals due to no staffed bed being available. The report notes: “While most children who require a PICU bed will eventually be admitted, the process of approaching many PICUs to find a bed is time-consuming and stressful for parents and carers and hospital staff.”

Referring to the data for last weekend, a spokesman for NHS England said: “Figures published on Friday show PICU occupancy across England was 85%, proving that beds are indeed available when needed.”

Acutely ill children waiting nine hours for beds in intensive care

Huge rise in hospital beds in England taken up by people with malnutrition

The number of hospital beds in England taken up by patients being treated for malnutrition has almost trebled over the last ten years, official figures reveal, in what charities say shows the “genuinely shocking” extent of hunger and poor diet.

Beds in hospitals were occupied a total of 180,528 times last year – a huge rise on the 65,048 seen in 2006-07. The sharp increase is adding to the pressures on hospitals, which are already struggling with record levels of overcrowding.

Critics have said the upward trend is a result of rising poverty, deep cutbacks in recent years to meals on wheels services for the elderly and inadequate social care support, especially for older people.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, unearthed the figures in a response to a recent parliamentary question submitted to health minister Nicola Blackwood.

“These figures paint a grim picture of Britain under the Conservatives,” he said. “Real poverty is causing vulnerable people, particularly the elderly, to go hungry and undernourished, so much so that they end up in hospital.

“Our research reveals a shocking picture of levels of malnutrition in 21st-century England and the impact it has on our NHS. This is unacceptable in modern Britain.”

The Department of Health figures showed that the number of bed days accounted for by someone with a primary or secondary diagnosis of malnutrition rose from 128,361 in 2010-11, the year the coalition came to power, to 184,528 last year – a 61% rise over five years.

Such patients only account for one in 256 of all hospital bed days, or 0.4% of the 47.3m total. However, the financial cost is considerable as each bed costs the NHS on average £400 a day to staff and each spell in hospital because of the condition lasts on average 22 to 23 days.

Graphic

Simon Bottery, director of policy at the charity Independent Age, said: “These new figures on malnutrition are genuinely shocking. As a society there is no excuse for us failing to ensure that older people are able to eat enough food, of the right quality, to stay healthy.

“Yet we have been cutting back the meals on wheels services and lunch clubs on which so many vulnerable elderly people relied and reducing the numbers who receive home care visits.”

Freedom of information requests submitted by local councils in England early last year by the then shadow care minister Liz Kendall found that 220,000 fewer people were receiving meals on wheels in late 2014 than in 2010 – a fall of 63%.

Research by the National Association of Care Catering found that only 48% of local councils still provided meals on wheels, compared to 66% in 2014. Only 17% of councils in the north-west of England still do, for example, and 91% of providers expect the provision to fall further in the next year.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence classes someone as being malnourished if they have a Body Mass Index of less than 18.5, or have suffered the unintentional loss of more than 10% of their weight over the last three to six months or if they have a BMI of under 20 and have unintentionally seen their weight drop by more than 5% over the previous three to six months.

The decision by the chancellor, Philip Hammond, not to give the NHS or social care any more money in his autumn statement last week would only worsen the situation, Ashworth said. “The reality is the government have failed this week to both give the NHS and social care the extra investment it needs while also failing to invest in prevention initiatives to foster healthier lifestyles. The cuts to public health budgets along with an emaciated obesity strategy are both utterly misguided,” he added.

Figures are not available for exactly how many patients accounted for the 184,528 bed days last year. But information supplied to Ashworth by the House of Commons library shows that 57% of the patients involved were women and that 42% occurred among over-65s.

Worryingly, four out of five people who needed inpatient hospital care because of malnutrition were admitted as an emergency, which suggests their health had deteriorated significantly in the days before they were taken in. Too many health and social care professionals do not have the time or knowledge to correctly identify malnutrition, said Bottery.

Dianne Jeffrey, the chair of the Malnutrition Task Force and Age UK, said: “If malnutrition is left untreated older people can become much more susceptible to illness and injury, are more likely to end up in hospital and on average take much longer to recover if they do become unwell.

“It is shocking that in modern times over a million older people across the UK are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition.”

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “The NHS is getting much better at spotting malnutrition and giving early treatment, and we are improving our data collection, all of which helps explain what might otherwise appear a significant rise in cases. But importantly, to prevent cases in the future, we have given £500,000 to Age UK to help reduce malnutrition among older people and will continue to train staff so early action can be taken.”

Stephen Dalton, chief executive for the NHS Confederation, which represents hospitals, said: “Our members take malnutrition seriously. Good nutrition is a fundamental human right our citizens can expect, and vulnerable, particularly older, people are most at risk of serious consequences if denied basic compassionate care. At a time of unprecedented demand on health and social care we need to be alert and will take seriously any reliable evidence of basic care not being delivered.”

Huge rise in hospital beds in England taken up by people with malnutrition

NHS to enhance beds for psychological wellness care for younger individuals

The minister Norman Lamb says the mental overall health care method for kids is at current as well pressurised. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

The NHS is escalating the quantity of beds available for kids and youthful individuals needing specialist psychological well being solutions, to consider to avert individuals possessing to be handled extended distances from residence.

Families in south-west England, Yorkshire and Humberside, are amongst people encountering the most from these bed shortages. Additional difficulties are getting induced by the lack of sufficiently skilled personnel and of appropriate social care in the neighborhood for sufferers right after they leave units.

NHS England is to open 50 new beds for children’s mental overall health care. A report by the organisation suggests that broader engagement with youngsters and youthful individuals, their families and their carers, is one the difficulties that must be addressed.

The report, of an NHS assessment, says that some components of the United kingdom could be losing beds as solutions shift to locations exactly where the troubles are worse. Individuals are also often inappropriatedly admitted to care, the area encompassing treatment method for these who are deaf, have autistic spectrum disorders, obsessive compulsive issues, or gender dysphoria.

The report says: “There are geographical inequities in provision of companies with some areas quite poorly served … There demands to be a stability struck between want for a concentration of clinical expertise and a specific therapeutic environment, and the detrimental effect of long distance admissions.”

The variety of beds for kids needing professional care rose from 844 in 1999 to one,264 in January this year. A a hundred “snapshot” situation histories offered for the report, showed that 1 in six individuals travelled more than a hundred miles for care.

Shortages of skilled workers have led to some units temporarily not admitting new sufferers, but recruitment is a difficulty across the entire nation, says the report. An boost in the number of beds would include to such pressures, it admits.

Norman Lamb, minister for care and help, stated: “I want to create a fairer society exactly where youngsters get the mental well being care they need to have, but the recent method is as well fragmented and pressurised. To deal with this we are taking immediate action by making a lot more beds offered and appointing a taskforce to enhance commissioning and produce a lot more joined-up companies for young children and younger individuals. I am definitely determined to get this correct so that young children all over the place get large-high quality care.”

Sarah Brennan, chief executive of the charity YoungMinds, mentioned the report “lifted the lid” on huge failings. “This has to be a pivotal second exactly where we seize the initiative and deliver about a sea modify in how we support children and youthful people’s mental health.”

The shadow public health minister, Luciana Berger, mentioned the problems amounted to an “appalling picture” and national scandal. The announcement came “nowhere near addressing the scale of the challenge we are dealing with”, she explained.

Martin McShane, NHS England’s director for sufferers with prolonged-term situations, mentioned: “We are committed to the two addressing the far more fast difficulties, by increasing capacity, and to bettering these solutions longer phrase, together with our nationwide partners.”

NHS to enhance beds for psychological wellness care for younger individuals

Binge drinkers should pay for hospital beds

Last autumn, a poll of one,000 men and women located that a lot more than 7 out of ten people think that individuals who check out A&ampE while drunk or beneath the influence of recreational drugs need to pay out for the remedy they obtain.

Mrs Manning explained Britain’s ageing population and elevated pressures on hospital providers and GPs, meant that it was not possible to keep meeting growing demand without obtaining added financial sources.

The think tank chief executive also stated ministers need to also think about introducing nationwide insurance for pensioners in purchase to raise NHS funding.

For the duration of the debate at the NHS Confederation yearly conference in Liverpool, Nick Timmins, senior fellow at the King’s Fund, disagreed, saying that the sums which could be brought in from costs linked to alcohol difficulties have been “trivial sums of money” which would make small distinction.

Fellow speakers also criticised the notion of forcing expenses on NHS patients who may possibly effectively be alcoholics.

Final night, the charity Alcohol Concern stated it was opposed to the notion. Emily Robinson, deputy chief executive, stated: “To deal with the genuine situation right here, we need to get to the source of the issue, this kind of as the sale of cheap alcohol. In order to tackle the escalating value alcohol misuse is leading to the NHS, we need to have the Government to introduce proof-primarily based policies, this kind of as minimum unit pricing, which we know will perform.

“Each A&ampE ought to also have an alcohol liaison professional offered to provide assistance and tips to individuals attending hospital since of alcohol-relevant problems.

“We do not feel that alcohol need to be singled out as an issue when our NHS is totally free at the level of use for everybody.”

Binge drinkers should pay for hospital beds

Stephen Sutton"s legacy to consist of further beds and nurses for teenage cancer individuals

His JustGiving webpage broke all information for the website, like the most funds raised by an individual and the most donors – more than 162,000 – who have sent money from 94 different nations from Andorra to Zimbabwe.

The Teenage Cancer Trust stated these days that the cash raised by Stephen would go to assisting the seven younger people diagnosed with cancer each day in the United kingdom.

His legacy will incorporate building new Teenage Cancer Trust units in hospitals, exactly where expert beds and widespread rooms will be supplied for sufferers aged 13 to 24. The cash will also be utilised to pay for additional teenage cancer professional nurses and youth support staff in hospitals.

A spokesman for the charity said: “Donations made to Stephen’s Story will be spent on supporting and building our vitally critical providers created to assist the 7 young folks, like Stephen, who are diagnosed with cancer each day.

“This involves the advancement of new Teenage Cancer Trust units as properly as supporting our existing network of 28 units in NHS hospitals across the United kingdom. We will also be in a position to enhance the variety of expert nurses and youth help coordinators we give, as properly as keep our schooling operate.”

Teenage Cancer Trust units guarantee that youthful men and women are handled alongside folks their personal age, by nurses who specialise in the healthcare and emotional requirements of teenage cancer individuals. With out the charity’s work, sufferers beneath the age of 16 would be taken care of on children’s wards, alongside toddlers, although in excess of-16s would be on adult wards, alongside pensioners, in line with NHS policy.

The units can value anything at all from £250,000 to much more than £3 million, based on the variety of beds and no matter whether an current ward is refurbished or an entirely new developing is needed.

The charity money 27 specialist nurses and 21 youth assistance co-ordinators, who are all primarily based in NHS hospitals. The 28 Teenage Cancer Believe in units in England, Scotland and Wales have all around 220 beds, though numbers vary based on demand. The units also have common rooms with computers, pool tables and other actions the place individuals can meet every other and socialise.

The Nationwide Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has endorsed the TCT model as the best way of caring for teenagers and young adults with cancer.

Stephen, of Burntwood, Staffs., was taken care of in a Teenage Cancer Trust unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, exactly where he eventually died.

Stephen Sutton"s legacy to consist of further beds and nurses for teenage cancer individuals

Cutting hospital beds is a false economic climate | Zara Aziz

‘It is accurate that our elderly population is living longer, but with a better burden of illness.’ Photograph: Alamy

A latest examine by the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Development found the United kingdom had the 2nd lowest variety of hospital beds per capita in Europe. There are two.95 beds in the United kingdom per one,000 men and women, and we are seeing more and much more beds currently being lower as smaller sized hospitals amalgamate into larger trusts. The only country that has fewer beds is Sweden, but it has different patient demographics and invests more in community overall health providers, this kind of as for ailment prevention and management of prolonged-phrase problems.

It is symptomatic of the challenge facing the NHS. Commissioning groups and hospital trusts are asked to supply ever much more: reduce A&ampE attendance, unplanned admissions and outpatient waiting occasions, whilst concurrently coping with a workforce crisis and catastrophic budget cuts.

My patient Arthur is a sprightly 81-12 months-outdated retired lecturer, who lives in warden-controlled accommodation. He nursed his wife by means of breast cancer until she died two years ago. He typically manages well: he has meals on wheels and one carer check out a day, to aid with any home tasks or buying. If he needs to see a medical professional, he typically walks the 50 yards it will take to get to our surgery.

He has never ever requested a property pay a visit to right up until the Tuesday that he requests a home call. When I see him, he is quite brief of breath and agitated. I suspect that he has pneumonia. His oxygen ranges are slipping, so I arrange an emergency ambulance to take him to the local hospital. I ring the single level of referral telephone line (this accepts all acute GP health care and surgical admissions). It generally faces higher demand on most days, but that day the hospital is on “red alert”: ambulances are backing up in A&ampE, unable to transfer their individuals. There are no empty healthcare beds to talk of, and hospital doctors are urgently making an attempt to discharge inpatients.

Soon after eight hrs of waiting in A&ampE, Arthur is transferred to an outlying orthopaedic ward. His chest x-ray showed pneumonia. He is handled on intravenous antibiotics for 24 hours and discharged with oral antibiotics on Thursday. When I see him the subsequent day, he admits that he feels tiny better, but is adamant he needs no even more intervention in hospital, come what could. He is philosophical about the care he has acquired. “Absolutely everyone functions really challenging and with resigned excellent humour, but the method is bursting at the seams,” he says.

It is true that our elderly population is living longer, but with a greater burden of illness. The standard position of a generalist GP is altering, as we see far more expert work spilling out of secondary care. GPs are expected to absorb this operate, but with no further sources. When I 1st joined my practice in 2010, we utilised to have an in-residence local community matron (to support assistance our sufferers with prolonged-phrase conditions). The funding for this was cut, and we now share a matron with three other practices (covering a total baseline population of all around forty,000 patients).

Our neighborhood trust has undergone major reconfiguration, with the imminent closure of one massive hospital and the transfer of all companies to the other web site. This will consequence in a net loss of 200 acute beds, which is probably to impact sufferers like Arthur, and stretch primary care in Bristol in an unprecedented way.

Several NHS trusts in England face comparable reconfigurations, and the government would do nicely to emphasis on what this means at patient degree, as there are no “quick fixes” when planning healthcare demands for sick individuals. Cuts in numbers of hospital beds can only work if these are replaced with equivalent community-based solutions, this kind of as more stage-down intermediate beds. Otherwise we will carry on to see an escalation of failed hospital discharges and “revolving-door” admissions.

Cutting hospital beds is a false economic climate | Zara Aziz

Britain has fewer hospital beds than most European countries, OECD says

There are fewer hospital beds in Britain than most other European countries, with much less than half the number of many, a report has found.

In accordance to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Advancement (OECD), the United kingdom had 3 hospital beds per one,000 individuals in 2011, with Ireland getting the exact same amount.

This was far behind the majority of other nations on the continent, with Germany having 8.three per 1,000 individuals, Austria seven.7, Hungary 7.two, Czech Republic six.eight and Poland six.six.

Estonia (5.three) Slovenia (4.6) also had significantly more, with only Sweden obtaining a reduce amount, at 2.7 per 1,000 population.

The figures present that the amount of hospital beds has progressively fallen in Britain because 2000 when there had been four.one per one,000 folks.

As well as a lack of beds, the NHS also has to contend with so-known as “bed blockers” who get up beds that could be utilised by other folks. Several elderly people have unnecessarily extended stays in hospital since social care providers are not in a position to support them once they are discharged.

Last October individuals needing important health-related care in England missed out on almost 80,000 days in hospital beds due to the fact they had been getting taken up by individuals who have been well sufficient to be moved on, NHS England stated.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of the Basis Believe in network, which represents NHS hospitals, stated the OECD figures demonstrate they are working close to complete capability.

He told the Day-to-day Telegraph: “There is no slack in the technique and trusts are consistently juggling their sources to meet patient demand.

“We have to stay away from scenarios exactly where elderly people are moved from one bed to the up coming, or forced to endure long waits on trolleys, but it is not simple since of the pressure the system is below.”

Britain has fewer hospital beds than most European countries, OECD says