Fears over hospital bed occupancy

Bed numbers have been declining since the 1950s

Hospital bed occupancy rates are falling but are still near risky levels, figures show.

Bed occupancy should be kept below 85% to help keep a grip on hospital infections, such as MRSA.

In recent years, the occupancy rate has been hovering above 85% as the NHS has cut the number of beds in hospitals, but last year it fell to 84.6%.

The government said care was improving, but NHS managers said it was important to keep a grip on bed occupancy.

The figures showed that overall bed numbers fell from 181,369 to 175,646 in the last year.

Bed numbers have been falling almost continuously since the 1950s as the NHS becomes better at treating people, meaning patients spend less time in hospital or have treatment at GP surgeries, physio clinics or even at home.

NHS chief executive David Nicholson said: "We know that the NHS is treating more patients and these figures confirm it is doing so using fewer beds.

"This clearly demonstrates the way we are improving services for patients by re-designing them to make them more convenient and more appropriate for patient needs."

Cuts

But many believe the bed occupancy rate gives a more accurate picture of the health of the NHS.

Since Labour came to power it has increased from 80.9% showing that advances in technology and changes in the nature of care have not kept pace with cuts in beds, which topped 6,000 in the past 12 months alone.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "After a feast of expenditure in the hospital sector the government is now imposing a famine, with damaging consequences for frontline services and patient safety.

"The scale of these cuts has not been matched by anything like the increase in day case surgery required, or greater provision in the community.

"These are aggressive reductions, induced by the government's financial mismanagement."

Nigel Edwards, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said it was misleading to focus on bed numbers as high figures "do not necessarily mean better patient care".

Instead, he added: "It is very important that bed occupancy rates are kept within the parameters of what is safe to reduce the likelihood of infection for those patients that have to stay in hospital."