According to figures obtained by Pulse, NHS hospitals have reduced the number of acute beds by 10% over three years. These figures have been released to MPs.
The total number of overnight beds in acute wards throughout England fell from an average of 2.19 per thousand people in 2004/5 to 1.98 in 2007/8.
The steep drop, revealed by health minister Ben Bradshaw in response to a parliamentary question, contrasts with the situation over the previous five years, when bed availability stayed constant.
According to Mr Bradshaw, the fall in total hospital bed number was due to better efficiency in dealing with patients as well as transferring them more swiftly to primary care setting.
Mr Bradshaw said “Experts all agree this is the best way to deliver healthcare. Advances in medical technology and shorter stays for routine operations mean fewer beds are needed – this is part of a long-term downward trend in the average length of stay in hospital. But where the NHS needs more beds, there are more beds.
However, Dr Paddy Glackin, secretary of Camden and Islington local medical committee, accused PCTs of cutting costs and leaving GPs to pick up the pieces. “It’s a rolling door. Every day, GPs have to see patients who have been hurtled out of hospital too quickly. Every single Friday one local hospital is on an emergency beds system and we are fighting to get our patients accepted. We are under pressure continually to manage patients at home.”
Dr Jonathan Fielden, chair of the BMA consultants’ committee, said funding cuts meant specialists were counting on already stretched GPs to make up for the shortfall. “While we have hospitals with this limited capacity – as we saw this winter – we will have more delays in getting patients in and we will be much more reliant on our GP colleagues to look after patients a bit longer and take them that little bit earlier,” he commented.
“Moving patients out of hospital more quickly is great if it’s genuinely justified on medical grounds, but it’s certainly not acceptable just as a way of saving money. ‘The Government must also ensure that if patients are increasingly managed in primary care, rather than in hospital, that there is a concurrent shift in resources. At the moment, hospitals continue to soak up too much of NHS funding,” said Richard Hoey, deputy editor of Pulse.
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Edited and adapted by Christian Nordqvist