Half of wards filled by elderly people who should really be in care homes.
The number of hospital beds in England is on course to fall by a record 20,000 in a year, adding to fears about services being cut.
It suggests a record fall this year, raising concerns that entire units are being closed without services being provided elsewhere as the NHS tries to save £20billion in three years.
The figures will also heighten fears of a shortage in hospital places driven by the ageing population, as beds in geriatric wards have been among the worst hit in recent years.
A report published by Bupa yesterday (THURS) warned that the NHS faces an “intolerable” bed-blocking crisis that will see half of wards filled by elderly people who should really be in care homes.
However ministers insist that hospitals are now able to treat patients quickly rather than keeping them overnight on wards, and say not all trusts have submitted updated bed numbers and so the figures cannot be compared with previous years.
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “A straight reduction in bed numbers does not necessarily equate to a decline in patient care. Many conditions are treated effectively in the community by skilled staff, who can keep patients as healthy as possible in their own homes.
“However, nothing should come ahead of the needs of patients. Any reduction in bed numbers needs to be properly planned with services provided elsewhere. Attempts to slash bed numbers simply for a short-term cost saving are irresponsible and entirely wrong.
“When the Government announced that up to £20 billion needed to be saved within the NHS, we were told that this money would be reinvested back into frontline services. We have yet to see any significant evidence that this is actually happening. We would urge the Government to highlight where and how these savings are improving patient care.”
Official data show that in 1987-88 there were 297,364 overnight beds in the NHS in England. By the time Labour came to power that number had fallen to 198,848 and over the next decade there were particularly sharp drops in the number of beds provided for pensioners, pregnant women and patients with learning disabilities.
During this period many hospitals were rebuilt under the Private Finance Initiative with fewer beds than the ones they replaced.
The only category that increased was “day beds” as hospitals tried to treat patients more quickly.
In 2009-10 there were 158,461 beds but new quarterly figures for the current financial year suggest the number is now falling sharply.
In the first quarter there were 144,070, in the second there were 139,685 and in the third quarter, in figures published on Thursday, there were 139,733.
Should this be repeated in the full year figure for 2010-11, it would mean a drop of 11.8 per cent.
However the Department of Health insisted the current figures are not comparable with those for previous years and pointed out that they may be an underestimate, as not all hospitals had reported the number of beds in their wards.
A spokesman said: “Quarterly figures are not comparable to the annual figures reported previously. Any such comparison is misleading. The latest quarterly figures show an increase in the number of beds from the quarter before but this is likely to be a seasonal fluctuation.
“We still expect to see the long-term trend of a continuing decline in the number of beds available as continuous medical advancements mean people need to spend less time in hospital and more services are moving out of hospital into the community. This is exactly what we and patients would both want and expect to see.”
