Hospital overcrowding hits record levels with 91% of beds occupied

HOSPITAL overcrowding is at its highest level on record, official figures show.

More than 91 per cent of beds are occupied at the average trust, although at some the rates are 99 per cent.

This is the highest since records began in 2000 and well above the 85 per cent level considered safe.

Experts said the NHS was under ‘extraordinary pressure’ and in the grip of a year- long crisis. Research has consistently shown that when hospitals are overcrowded, patients are at much higher risk of infection and poor care.

According to figures from NHS England, the average hospital was 91.4 per cent occupied in the three months to the end of March. This was up from 90.6 per cent in the three months to the end of December and well above the 86.3 per cent figure when records began in June 2000.

The highest occupancy rates were at Milton Keynes University Hospital Trust in Buckinghamshire and Basildon and Thurrock Hospitals Trust in Essex, which were both at 99 per cent.

A separate analysis by the British Medical Association concluded that hospitals were failing to recover from the intense pressures experienced over the winter.

It warned that waiting time targets for cancer, A&E and ambulance responses are at their worst on record and will only deteriorate further.

The surge in hospital occupancy rates has partly been caused by a huge reduction in bed numbers, to save money.

Hospitals have cut approximately 15,000 beds in the past six years – about 10 per cent – as part of a drive to treat patients in their own homes.

At the same time, wards are becoming increasingly occupied by frail elderly patients unable to go home due to cuts to social care.

Clare Marx, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: ‘ These numbers are

‘Cuts may have gone too far’

exceptionally worrying and suggest that reductions in hospital bed numbers over recent years may have gone too far. We are running short of space in hospitals.

‘ Medical advances have meant more surgery can take place without an overnight hospital stay and this has allowed the NHS to reduce bed numbers.

‘However, at the same time there has been an increase in the number of frail older patients in hospital because of a lack of social care or community alternatives.’

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospital staff, said: ‘These figures reflect the extraordinary pressures NHS trusts faced during the winter. The situation is unsustainable.’