From the BBC
11:21
English hospitals emptier than this time last year
Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent
The latest hospital occupancy data has been published in England. It shows in the week ending 13 December, 89% of beds were occupied, leaving 10,500 empty beds.
That means hospitals were actually busier this time last year, when 95% of beds were occupied.
Ideally hospitals would operate at only 85% capacity, so the right beds are available when patients need them, but in recent years it has been consistently above that level.
Hospitals are also having to cope with fewer beds this year.
They have just over 89,000 beds in total – down 8,000 on last year, reflecting the fact infection control and social distancing have meant some beds have been taken out of the system.
The national figure does mask some real hotspots in some areas where hospitals are close to being full.
But it does show there is some wriggle room overall. What we don’t know is at what cost this has come.
Non-Covid care, such as routine operations, are likely to be getting increasingly cancelled as the number of Covid patients increases.