DON’T BE SICK AT CHRISTMAS

Shocking scale of hospital bed crisis

THE NHS is heading for its worst winter crisis ever – with half of hospitals already packed.

Bed occupancy rates are more than 95 per cent in 72 NHS trusts, 10 per cent above official safety levels.

And 24 of those are struggling at 98 per cent of beds full, a Labour analysis of the first week of winter stats shows. That means they have almost no capacity to take more patients.

It means 54 per cent of the nation’s 134 trusts are in severe trouble.

Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “Our hospitals are already overcrowded and winter has only just begun. Tory politicians can’t bury their heads in the sand. Our NHS needs an urgent plan to get through winter. Patients won’t forgive ministers if they allow a repeat of last year’s winter crisis.”

That was so bad that 2.5 million patients waited over four hours in A&E, with 614,000 of them on trolleys.

More than 3,400 were on trolleys for 12 hours or more, while 100,000 had to wait in ambulances, with a quarter of those treated in hospital car parks. Clinicians say a bed occupancy rate of more than 85 per cent is unsafe. Two trusts are at 100 per cent, London NW University Healthcare and Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals. In PM Theresa May’s back yard, the Bucks Healthcare Trust is at 96 per cent. Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s local West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is over 95 per cent.

Mr Ashworth wants Mr Hancock to reveal his winter emergency proceduresas he unveils his NHS plan, expected by Christmas.

HEALTH Secretary Matt Hancock should park Brexit and concentrate his mind on avoiding another NHS winter crisis.

Today we publish Labour’s analysis of the first week of winter stats. And it’s so alarming, Mr Hancock should be dialling 999.

More than half the country’s hospitals are already packed, and 24 NHS trusts are struggling with bed occupancy rates of 98 per cent or more. So this winter threatens to be the worst ever for those who become seriously ill.

That will mean more patients on trolleys and stuck in the back of ambulances.

Official safety guidelines say all hospitals should have 15 per cent of their beds free at any one time so they can cope with any sudden influx of patients.

That, Mr Hancock, is the target you should be aiming for. We hope you have an emergency plan up your sleeve for achieving it.

And you have until Thursday, when MPs go home for Christmas, to announce it.