5 facts about hospitals

5 facts about hospitals

1. There are 215 hospital groups (called ‘trusts’; including 10 ambulance trusts) in the NHS. The actual number of hospitals is unknown, partly as it hard to define a hospital
2. There are (about!) 141,900 available beds – but this changes every day
3. The number of beds is decreasing
   • The number of beds in England has halved over the past 30 years. Proportionally, the largest falls have been in beds for people with a learning disability, people with mental illness, and long-term beds for older people
   • Medical advances that mean patients don’t have to stay in hospital for as long and a shift in policy towards providing treatment and care outside hospital have contributed to the reduction in bed numbers.
4. During 2023/24, there were 16.5 million A&E attendances and 4.7 million emergency admissions and 8.6 million elective admissions (operations and procedures) – all rising. As the UK’s population is increasing at about 0.6%a year, this is not surprising
5. No NHS hospital target has been achieved since February 2016:
   • 18 week elective (planned care) target = 92% of patients should have definitive treatment within 18 weeks of referral from GP to hospital (e.g. GP to hospital consultant for an operation like a hip replacement). Currently 58% achieve the 18 week target. The 18 week target was last achieved in February 2016
   • 4 hour A&E target = 95% of patients should be admitted, transferred, or discharged from A&E within four hours. Currently 60% achieve the 4 hour target. The 4 hour target was last achieved in July 2015
   • Cancer targets
     • 31 day target = 31-days (one month) wait from decision to treat to first treatment (target = 96%)
     • 62 day target = 62-days (two months) wait from referral to first treatment (85%)
     • Currently 92% of patients achieve the 31 day target and 68% achieve the 62 day target.