4,000 extra beds needed to avoid ‘trolley care’

Doctors have warned that the NHS requires thousands of extra beds in order to prevent being subjected to ‘corridor care’ this winter.

Having analysed NHS data, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has found that 4,000 to 6,000 extra beds were needed to ‘keep emergency departments moving’ by ensuring that patients could be accommodated.

NHS England says that it is unsafe if more than 85 per cent of available beds are occupied at any one time as hospitals would be left unable to cope with surges in demand. Occupancy rate last winters reached an average of 93.5 per cent, adding that more than 15,000 beds, or about one in ten, had been lost since 2010. Adding to the pressure, the summer just passed was the worst ever in terms of the number of patients waiting more than 12 hours for a hospital bed

Katherine Henderson, president of the RCEM, said: “Our number one priority is to put an end to ‘corridor care’ this winter. To do this we will need at least 4,000 extra staffed beds. Emergency departments aim to have most patients treated and back home on the same day, but nearly a third of all patients who go to major A&Es needed to be admitted to a bed.

“A lack of beds means that many patients have to wait long times in undignified conditions, often on a trolley in a corridor. Last year nearly a third of a million people waited for over 12 hours. No patient should have to experience this for even a couple of hours, let alone for over half a day as some do.”

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responded: “The Tories have cut over 15,000 beds and, combined with a decade of underfunding, we’ve seen over 600,000 patient trolley waits in the past year. The truth is our NHS is now in a year-round crisis because of this Tory government, and it is patients who are suffering every day as a result.”

An NHS spokesman said: “The NHS will indeed be opening up thousands of beds over the next few months, based on the local availability of nurses and other staff. Hospitals will also be working closely with community health services and local authorities’ home care and care home services.”