HL Deb 15 March 2000 vol 610 c214WA
Lord Laird

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is their target for the percentage of bed occupancy in the National Health Service in the medical and surgical specialisms. [HL1460]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

The National Beds Inquiry, published for consultation on 10 February, considered a number of issues relating to hospital beds including occupancy. It found that the downward trend in beds mainly reflects the reduction in average length of stay, the growing importance of day case treatments, and also the rise in the average level of bed occupancy. Its bed projections assume that occupancy rates will remain at current levels—that is about 84 per cent.

The Government's Emergency Services Action Team report in 1997 included analyses showing that in acute hospitals average bed occupancy rates over 85 per cent are associated with rapidly growing problems in handling emergency admissions. Subsequent analysis by the University of York has confirmed this conclusion.