Capacity at NHS hospitals has been stretched more than ever over Christmas with fewer beds available across England despite the Prime Minister’s claim yesterday that extra funding and extensive planning meant it was better prepared.
Average bed occupancy across all trusts jumped to 91.7 per cent between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve compared to 90 per cent occupancy in the same week last year, according to The Independent’s analysis.
It’s also a rise from 90.9 per cent occupancy in the week running up to Christmas this year despite thousands more beds being opened in preparation for the winter period.
Emergency care chiefs had previously warned that Christmas Day usually provides a lull but this year “it was just another very bad day”.
The figures, released today as part of NHS England’s weekly winter update, show this to be correct as 87 per cent of beds were full, compared to 84 per cent last year.
While on New Year’s Eve occupancy had risen to 94 per cent, compared to 92 per cent last year, despite hundreds more beds being open.
The same figures show that the number of acutely ill patients forced to wait more than half an hour outside A&E departments while waiting for a bed jumped to 16,900, nearly 5,000 on the week before.
The Independent revealed how these delays, and “inappropriate 999 calls” over the break had forced one region to send nurses as first responders to patients.
Despite this, the figures show calls to the non-emergency 111 NHS number hit their highest levels since the service launched.
Nearly half a million people called for medical advice and information on what NHS services were available, up from the previous record of 457,100 in the same period last year.
An NHS England spokesperson said: “Hospitals, GPs, ambulances and other frontline NHS services have been extremely busy between Christmas and New Year, reporting higher levels of respiratory illness and some indications of increasing patient illness severity and flu.
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