Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Bethell on 1 December (HL Deb, cols 717–21), how many hospitals have no spare bed capacity; and how many beds are currently occupied above the seasonal norm.
Data on overall spare hospital bed capacity is not collected in the format requested. Data collections on hospital beds are divided into key bed subgroups, including general and acute beds, critical care beds and mental health beds. Hospital bed capacity is not fixed and can be scaled according to requirement.
Additionally, there is no official agreed seasonal norm for bed occupancy.