How many maternity beds are there in the uk

There are three conditions for a patient being ready for transfer:. Escalation beds: temporary beds opened by NHS providers during winter to provide short-term capacity.

These include patients being treated by a range of specialties including general surgery, trauma and orthopaedics, cardiology and general medicine. Supply-induced demand: demand for health care that in the absence of the provider may have gone unmet. Not necessarily inappropriate care. Consequently, some types of beds, including intermediate care and community mental health, are excluded from current data. Comparisons across the period should therefore be treated as approximate.

The data collection only includes beds at the reporting provider, not beds paid for at any other provider. These record the number of critical care beds available and occupied. In contrast to the bed availability and occupancy data set, the monthly situation reports record the number of critical care beds via a snapshot on the last Thursday of each calendar month rather than as an average.

Thank you for this very interesting information. This will put us lower than the UK's shocking statistic on bed numbers. No wonder our Health chiefs refuse to be inspected by the Care Quality Commission. They are absolutely derelict in their duties. Hi Graeme, thanks for getting in touch. The statistics in this publication refer specifically to England because our remit as an organisation focuses on health and care in England.

We do however have a library service who could help you with finding relevant data for other parts of the UK. As an ex nurse, I think your report is one of the most interesting that I have read. I always suspected that despite advances in day surgery over the years, the reduction of hospital beds over all aspects of medicine, be it mental health, maternity, social care, disability and many other conditions could only leave the UK more and more vulnerable.

It is disgraceful that our ratio of staffed hospital beds to population is one of the worst in Europe. For me the stand out Graphics are Figure 6 and 8 which expose the real vulnerablility of our country to any illness every year for example, Flu related increase in Hospitalisation normally in Winter. COVID 19 has exposed our weak pratical position even in relation to other comparible countries in Europe despite having world leading connected continuity in other areas of the structure of healthcare in the UK.

A great report - well done to all the authors. Introduction and policy context. This explainer aims to place discussions about hospital beds in a wider context by: presenting data on hospital beds for England over a year period and, where possible, data on other categories of beds used in health care comparing bed supply in the NHS with other countries exploring the drivers underpinning changes observed in hospital bed numbers considering whether further bed reductions are realistic.

The number of hospital beds in England and abroad: trends over time and drivers. How does the number of hospital beds in the United Kingdom compare to other countries? Explaining decreases in the number of hospital beds. A number of factors have contributed to the long-term trend of falling hospital bed numbers. Patients spending less time in hospital The evolution of medical care — advances in anaesthetic and surgical techniques, pain control and changes to how recovery is managed — means that an increasing number of patients spend less time in hospital now than they would have done in the past.

Current pressures on hospital beds. Delays in discharging patients from hospital A large proportion of hospital bed days are used by a relatively small number of mostly older patients who remain in hospital for a long time. Delayed discharges The number of delayed discharges rose substantially between and see Figure 9.

Getting greater value from beds: opportunities, initiatives and outlook. Reducing variation and improving patient flow Despite impressive reductions in the average length of stay and the number of acute beds in the NHS over the past 30 years, wide variations remain both across and within different parts of England that cannot fully be explained by differences in population need, case-mix or patient preference see box below.

Examples of variation Average length of stay for children with asthma varies from 0. Getting It Right First Time GIRFT — a clinically led programme that seeks to improve quality and reduce cost in the delivery of hospital care by identifying and then tackling unwarranted variations in services and practices.

RightCare — a national NHS England-supported programme aimed at reducing unwarranted variation in commissioning. Moderating demand for hospital care After the publication of the NHS five year forward view in , the NHS began testing new models of care in 50 vanguard areas across England.

What next for hospital beds in England? Get the latest news from The King's Fund Subscribe to our email newsletters and health care information bulletins. Glossary Average length of stay: the average amount of time in days that patients spend in hospital between admission and discharge day case admissions are excluded from the calculation.

There are three conditions for a patient being ready for transfer: a clinical decision has been made that the patient is ready for transfer a multidisciplinary team has decided that a patient is ready for transfer the patient is safe to discharge or transfer. Related content. Data visualisation The number of hospital beds Over the past three decades the number of hospital beds has been declining in England.

This is a result of medical advances and a shift in policy towards providing treatment and care outside hospital. This updated explainer looks at the number of critical care beds, how critical care units work and how they are staffed. Reply Link to comment. Great article highlights realities of the current Health Situation. No wonder the Nightingale Hospitals were created so fast!!!

This critique only deals with one aspect of the problem - see below for others. Grad IPD. As someone who has had experience regarding delivery of health services since , I would entirely agree with your reported comments. However, no doubt your comments will be rejected by unnamed sources at the DOH and Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt but are in fact entirely correct. We now have a fragmented Health Service which has resulted in a variable standard in the delivery of health services across the country far worse than the much criticised post code lottery which previously existed.

You will also know that despite the critical reports and recommendations of the CQC as to how failings should be addressed — many Chief Executives of the Trusts criticised fail to take action — perhaps the most glaring recent example being the behaviour of the former Chief Executive of the Southern Heath Service Trust — but there are many others.

Putting Trusts into special measures, only addresses the fundamental problem identified above and as detailed on the attached in the short term and is very costly to the taxpayer. Therefore the problems in the delivery of health services in the NHS are far wider than you have initially identified.

I shall be obliged to hear your views. Yours sincerely, Kevin S. Jeremy Hunt on behalf of the Government refused to accept this recommendation and quite disgracefully, given the findings of Robert Francis, stated that thedecision on strafing numbers was "best left to the Chief Executive of each Trust to determine". The above decision made even worse as neither the Government, the Department of Health or NHS England now have any control over how the now "independent" and "free from democratic control" NHS Trusts behave other than determining how much of tax payers money is given to each independent Trust each year - so any comment on this issue made by Jeremy Hunt, Theresa May or the DOH on this sue has any relevance at all - yet the BBC and the rest of the media keep quoting them as if the reverse were true..

Once that money or any extra money is given none of the above can actually control how that money or extra money is actually spent. The above as a result of the contents of the Health and Social Care Act The current position is made even more appalling as a more and more independent NHS Trusts have been found to have allowed "preventable deaths" to occur identifed as such by the CQC many due to a shortage of staff and all that has happened if anything at all is they have been prosecuted by the Health and Safety executive, and b he above resulting in a massive fine which is not paid by the senior managers responsible for creating and or allowing the conditions which directly led to the preventable death or deaths but by the tax payer.

In every other environment where senior managers have been found to have allowed "preventable" deaths to occur, the individual manager responsible has been prosecuted for manslaughter due to a breach of his or "duty of care" to the individual who had died. That "duty of care" applies even more importantly to the Chief Executives and other senior managers in the now "independent and free from Democratic control" NHS Trusts and a perceived shortage of funds is no defence to such a charge.

Yet despite literally thousands of preventable detahs having been identified both by Robert Francis QC and the CQC individual Trusts and even where negligence of individuals has been identified by a Coroner not one Chief executive or senior manager in the NHS as a whole has ever been prosecuted.

The relevance of the above is that it would only require one Chief Executive or other senior manager to be prosecuted for this offence for this to immediately result in improvement to patient safety throughout the NHS as a whole.

More information FOC!! Kevin S. Riley Solicitor. Timely and comprehensive report. Thank you. I hope it will be promoted and received intact and with the merit it deserves. Chris I agree with the overall statement as demonstrated repeatedly by OECD annual reports that most countries have reduced bed numbers on the back of length of stay reductions However from onwards a worrying trend has emerged,disguised by the graphical displays of reports from onwards but there in the data.

In a fresh attack yesterday, Mr Cameron warned that the NHS review being conducted for the government by Professor Ara Darzi would mean 40 maternity units were under threat, alongside 90 accident and emergency units.

The Tory leader, who is just back from visiting troops in Afghanistan, said: "Professor Darzi says district general hospitals are over. I completely disagree. His attack comes as the RCM, for the first time in its history, ballots for industrial action short of a strike. The group is protesting at the government's refusal to give the full 2.

Speaking to Channel Four News, Mr Cameron also insisted his party would be ready for an October election saying: "We've got the candidates, we've very effectively raised money, cleared a lot of our debts, and we're ready to fight an election on that ground, and a manifesto is under preparation at the moment.

He must stop relying on medical devotion, on public apathy and on the patient acceptance by women of impossible conditions, and take immediate and effective action to provide a solution. I am sure that we are all glad that the hon. Lady the Member for Wood Green Mrs. Butler has raised this matter. This is clearly an important question and one of particular importance to a great many people.

We must, therefore, see it in its right perspective, identify the problem and try as far as we can to look at it dispassionately. There is nothing more calculated to stir the emotions than to picture the mothers of London seeking, but unable to find, a place in which to have their babies. I know the keen interest over a long period that the hon. Lady has taken in this subject, but this, of course, is not a correct picture, and I know that she is aware of that. Perhaps, therefore, I might start by telling the House what is the present position.

When we talk about London in this context, we generally think in terms of Greater London rather than of the precise London County Council area or the area of Middlesex, a part of which the hon. Lady represents. She has expressed her concern about particular areas, and I shall make some reference to them. I should like first—I am sure that this is what she wants me to do—to look at the position in the London County Council and the Middlesex County Council areas.

In , no fewer than 82 per cent. These figures are in both cases slightly higher than in the previous year when they were 81 per cent. This increase in institutional confinement is significant, and I suggest that it does not indicate a bed shortage or, as the hon.

Lady has said, an insoluble problem—at least, it does not indicate any serious shortage. It is a fact—and I am glad to be able to reassure the House—that practically every mother needing hospital confinement on medical or social grounds is eventually admitted. In line with the general position is the further fact that in the Grsater London area 90 per cent.

I am, of course, aware of the special factors which contribute to the high level of institutional confinements in London and its suburbs. Even so, I think that the figures are impressive looked at against the national background, and, again.

I suggest that they do not indicate a serious shortage, but there is—I concede this to the hon. Lady—a somewhat uneven distribution of maternity beds in the London area.

There are, of course, historical reasons for this. There is a relative concentration of beds in certain parts of London, particularly in the centre, and a relatively light provision in some of the peripheral areas. Our efforts, and those of the regional hospital boards, whose duty it is to plan the hospital services in their regions in consultation where necessary with the teaching hospitals, are, therefore, aimed at better geographical distribution by increasing the provision where there is local shortage.

One hundred and sixty-seven additional maternity beds will be provided in the Greater London area as the result of the schemes to be started this year. In , 64 additional beds were provided, and have been or will be provided this year.

The hon. Lady asked me how many beds will actually become available for use this year. The answer is Lady specifically mentioned two areas—Tottenham and Romford. It is true that these are, unfortunately, areas where there is at present a local shortage of maternity beds. Measures are being taken in these areas and others, and they illustrate precisely what I have just been saying.

It is true that Tottenham has only the Bearsted Memorial Hospital, with its 32 beds—. The area of which Tottenham is a part, is served by maternity beds located at Chase Farm, and at South Lodge—which recently opened 24 beds—and which are in Enfield; at the North Middlesex, and at Tower Annexe, which are in Edmonton; and at the Bearsted Memorial Hospital. The Hospital Plan is expected to add another to this total of On the other hand, there is, for the reasons that I have already indicated, an existing surplus provision in the adjacent area, and arrangements have recently been made for hospitals in that area to help out the neighbouring area of shortage.

In order still further to help, 21 additional beds have been provided at the Bethnal Green Hospital because it is possible to provide them quickly there. To turn to the Romford area, which, like Tottenham, Edmonton and Enfield, is on the periphery of the new Greater London area, there is also a shortage.

Ten additional beds will result from the building taking place during this year. Short cuts have been introduced into the planning of a completely new unit at Rush Green Hospital, which is going ahead as fast as possible; and major developments are taking place at Barking and Orsett Hospitals which, in the longer term, will provide most of the beds required by the area. I turn now to one of the difficulties which has been faced in recent years, on account of the uneven distribution of beds rather than of an absolute shortage.

In recent years there was a steady rise, beginning in about , in the number of mothers admitted to hospital in the Greater London area for their confinement through the emergency bed service.

Many of these were not emergencies of the sort for which the emergency bed service is designed to deal. In , for example, for just over half of those mothers it was known quite early in pregnancy that hospital beds would be needed, but no booking was obtained at the time.

This clearly, was not a satisfactory state of affairs. I know that when I first went to the Ministry of Health as Parliamentary Secretary this was worrying the then Minister of Health very much, and after trying hard to find other solutions the four Metropolitan Regional Hospital Boards and London teaching hospitals with maternity departments were asked in August last year to define areas for which an adequate number of beds could be grouped to meet the needs of maternity patients.

In each of the areas they defined they were asked to take the initiative in setting up a body representative of the hospital authorities, the local health authorities, executive councils, and the local medical committees concerned to co-ordinate administrative action. These bodies exist and they are functioning well. They are expected to keep the arrangements under review, and, clearly, the situation with which they have to grapple will be influenced favourably as new beds become available.

I am sure that the hon. Lady—indeed, everyone—will be glad to know that the emergency bed service is now being called on much less for finding beds for maternity cases, and these, of course, include many real unexpected emergencies.

In the first five months of this year there were only 1, such cases compared with 1, in the corresponding period of last year.

This is a most welcome improvement, and the number is 8 per cent. This is despite the fact that there has been an increase in the number of births. Lady has from time to time expressed some concern—and it is quite right to probe into these matters in the way she has done—about the length of stay in hospital.