The NHS’s top emergency doctor has warned that the health service is still in the thick of winter, with
Demand for NHS services remains high, with 96 per cent of adult beds occupied last week, the highest so far this winter.
This comes after the health service announced it had met its urgent and emergency care recovery plan ambition of an additional 5,000 ‘core’ beds to increase the level of permanent, staffed, and sustainable beds over winter.
The 5,000 extra beds ambition was against a baseline of 94,500 – the original level of core beds planned by NHS trusts in 2022/23.
The new figures show the NHS had a total of 103,688 general and acute beds open each day last week – over 2,300 more than the same week last year – with 99,864 of these core beds.
Redhead said: “Last week was evidence of why the NHS needed to grow its core bed numbers – with occupancy at its highest level this winter, fuelled by rising numbers of flu and norovirus admissions, and more than 13,000 patients remaining in hospital each day who are fit to be discharged because of ongoing capacity issues in social and community care – and NHS staff have worked tirelessly to boost capacity and execute key steps of the urgent and emergency care recovery plan.
“As always, I would urge the public to get their flu and Covid vaccines if they are eligible, and continue to come forward for NHS services when you need them – 999 or A&E in an emergency, and 111 online for any other conditions.”
