Fewer beds, higher patient demand - NHS pressure mounts With many hospitals close to full in these difficult winter weeks, there has been much debate about the resources available in the health service.
Patient demand is rising faster than the budget increases allocated to the NHS in England.
Yet the number of hospital bed numbers has fallen steadily in recent years. So what is going on?
The total number of overnight hospital beds in England fell from 144,455 at the start of the 2010/11 financial year to 129,458 in the middle of 2016 (the last recorded figures). The number of day beds over that period increased from 11,783 to 12,480.
Looking further back into history reveals a sharper rate of decline.
That current figure of overnight beds compares with almost 300,000 in 1987-88 according to figures from the Nuffield Trust. BBC News
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