Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hospital beds have been purchased with the £1 billion funding allocated by his Department to increase the hospital bed base.

Good progress is being made in the delivery of 5,000 additional beds as part of the permanent bed base for next winter, as committed to in the Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) recovery plan. NHS England has worked with integrated care boards to review local demand and capacity plans for 2023/24 and ensure local plans are in place to deliver this commitment. This is being supported by the £1 billion of funding for National Health Service capacity announced in the recovery plan.

No specific estimate has been made. As part of the implementation of the UEC recovery plan, NHS England is working with all systems so that all hospitals with type one emergency departments provide appropriate Same Day Emergency Care seven days a week with minimum opening hours of 12 hours per day.