The government has announced a fund of £250m to provide another 5,000 NHS England hospital beds this winter, to relieve pressure on hospitals and reduce waiting times.
As part of the NHS Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery Plan, over 30 NHS organisations across England will benefit from the investment in urgent and emergency care services.
Over 900 new hospital beds, including 60 intermediate care beds, should be ready by January 2024 to increase capacity on hospital wards and A&E to 100,000. The scheme will also improve assessment spaces and cubicles in A&E.
Health and social care secretary, Steve Barclay, said: “Creating additional hospital capacity will support staff to provide the best possible care and treat patients more quickly, helping us to improve waiting times and cut waiting lists – one of the government’s top five priorities.”
Trusts including Hull Royal Infirmary, James Cook University Hospital and Worthing Hospital will develop or expand urgent treatment centres to treat patients more quickly.
Others will also use the funding to develop or expand same-day emergency care services to help assess, diagnose and treat patients more quickly.
At Peterborough City Hospital, £12.5m will be used to provide 72 new hospital beds and Northwick Park Hospital, London will use the £22.6m investment to create a 32-bed modular acute medical ward to increase the hospitals capacity this winter.
In response to the announcement, chief analyst at The King’s Fund, Siva Anandaciva, said their research found that “the UK has relatively few hospital beds, with 2.5 beds per 1,000 people compared to an average of 3.2, placing the UK second to last out of 19 peer countries.
“Last year, (…) the direct cost of each delayed discharge was nearly £400 per night, and this added up to £1.9 billion spent over 2022/23. This shows that early investment for planning goes a long way to make better use of the NHS’s resources and improve care for patients.”
The plan will also include a commitment for 800 new ambulances, including specialist mental health ambulances to improve response times this winter.
Earlier this month, the NHS announced that its virtual ward programme would be expanded to children, with virtual ward bed numbers predicted to hit 10,000 by the autumn.