Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many hospital beds there were in NHS hospitals in (1) 2008, (2) 2010, and (3) 2015.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
From April 2010, NHS England started to publish quarterly information on the numbers of available and occupied beds open overnight and day only in National Health Service organisations. Previously, annual data was published. A table showing the numbers of NHS hospital beds is attached owing to the size of the data.
There has been a long-term reduction in the number of general and acute beds open overnight because hospitals are dealing with patients more efficiently. The NHS now performs more day cases, length of stay is decreasing and more people are treated in community settings.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many qualified nurses were employed in the NHS in (1) 2015, and (2) 2010.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
NHS Digital publishes workforce statistics. The following table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) nurses and health visitors working in the National Health Service in May
2015 and May 2010.
FTE | May 2010 | May 2015 |
Nurses | 280,950 | 281,326 |
Source: NHS Digital, provisional NHS HCHS monthly workforce statistics.
Notes: Health visitors may be employed by NHS provider organisations, but may also be employed directly by local authorities or other care providers. Current data collections do not cover the complete range of these organisations. As a result, it is not possible to provide accurate data on the total size of the health visitor workforce.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many GPs there were in practice in the NHS in (1) 2010, and (2) 2015.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Information on the numbers of general practitioners in practice is shown in the following table.
| 2010 | 2015 |
Headcount (England) | 39,409 | 40,648 |
Full-time equivalent (England) | 35,243 | 34,025 |
Source: NHS Digital. Figures as at September 30 each year.