This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
Hospital delays ‘deeply worrying’
New BBC analysis of NHS figures has shown that more than one in 10 patients in England face long delays for a hospital bed after emergency admission.
Last year, the figures witnessed a near five-fold increase, with approximately 475,000 patients having to waiting over four hours for a bed on a ward - leaving hospital staff having to use side rooms and corridors under the pressure. This represents 11 per cent of the 4.2 million patients admitted in total between October 2015 and September 2016.
The growing demand is not a new revelation, but doctors are now warning that their hospitals were now dangerously overcrowded, with three quarters of UK hospitals reporting bed shortages as this winter.
NHS figures show that 130 out of 179 hospital trusts are reporting rates exceeding the NHS target of 85 per cent bed occupancy, causing ‘deeply worrying’ delays for patients.
Siva Anandaciva, of NHS Providers which represents hospitals, said: "These figures are deeply worrying. We are heading into winter in a more fragile state than I have seen in the past 10 years or so.
"Even the historically top-performing trusts are being challenged, which shows that this is an issue affecting all parts of health. No-one wants to see people waiting in corridors, side rooms and emergency bays when they should be admitted to a hospital bed. These patients are still under the care of doctors and nurses of course, but it is not ideal for them and we know overcrowding leads to worse outcomes."
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