Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS hospitals in England operated consistently at a patient occupancy level of 98 per cent or higher in each year from 2010 to 2017.

Information is not available in the format requested as data surrounding National Health Service hospital patient occupancy levels is not collected centrally.

However, NHS England collects quarterly data from all NHS organisations on available overnight and day only beds and the total number of occupied bed days by consultant led specialty, excluding critical care beds.

Average annual bed occupancy for each NHS provider, from 2010/11 to 2017/18, is shown in the attached table.

Hospitals are dealing with patients more efficiently and it is normal for bed availability to fluctuate, but the NHS has practice and experience in managing capacity to cope with both routine and emergency care.