Number of NHS hospital beds halved over 30 years
THE number of NHS hospital beds in England has more than halved over the past three decades – and experts warn more are to be lost.
A report by the King’s Fund health thinktank warns the number of NHS beds for every 1,000 people in the country is lower than the equivalent figure in almost all other leading economies.
The number of beds has fallen from 299,000 in 1987/88 to 142,000 in 2016/17, while the number of patients has soared.
The report cites data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which put the UK at 29th out of 35 leading countries on beds. It found Britain in 2015 had 2.6 hospital beds per 1,000 people, compared with Japan at 13.2, Russia at 8.5, Germany at 8.1 and France at 6.1.
The King’s Fund said NHS England’s flagship schemes to improve the service – known as sustainability and transformation plans or STPs – have set out proposals to cut beds even further. Last winter, hospitals declared major alerts and closed A&E doors, with an average of more than 90 per cent of beds full. Anything over 85 per cent raises the risk of infection and is deemed unsafe. The report warns plans to cut beds in some areas are ‘neither desirable nor achievable’.
The reduction in beds over the past 30 years is partly because more mental health patients are cared for in the community and patients generally spend less time in hospital than in the past, the report adds.
Author Helen McKenna said: ‘There are opportunities to make better use of existing beds … with many hospitals stretched to breaking point, reductions on the scale we know have been proposed in some areas are neither desirable not achievable.’
Dr Nick Scriven, of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: ‘We have seen the majority of hospitals just about cope by squeezing length of stay … as beds shut it will become virtually impossible to safely decrease this.’
An NHS England spokesman said: ‘Hospitals have said they are planning to open up more than 3,000 extra beds this winter … work is underway to free up to 3,000 more … We have introduced an explicit test to prevent inappropriate bed closures.’