Alarming fall in NHS beds
The number of NHS beds lost in Wales over the last two years is equivalent to an entire district general hospital.
That’s according to latest figures published today.
More than one in five beds have been axed in Wales in the last decade.
In 2014/15, there were – on average – just 11,062 NHS beds available every day. In 2004/05, there were more than 14,000.
In 2012/13, bed numbers stood at 11,497, 435 more than the most recent figure – more than the total number of beds at Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, almost double the number of beds at Llanelli’s Prince Philip Hospital and approximately the same as the total number of beds at Merthyr’s Prince Charles Hospital.
(source: http://foundationschools.info/wales.html)
Meanwhile, over the last ten years, percentage occupancy has risen from 83 to 85 per cent.
The full statistics have today been published in an annual report available on the Welsh government’s website:http://gov.wales/statistics-and-research/nhs-beds/?lang=en
Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister, Darren Millar AM, said:
“Around an entire hospital's worth of beds have been axed by Labour's Welsh NHS in the past two years – that’s a national scandal.
“At a time when resources are already stretched to breaking point, waiting times are breaking records and our emergency departments are falling short of their targets, communities will rightly question the wisdom of yet more beds being taken out of the system.
“These figures provide yet further clear evidence that Labour’s record-breaking NHS budget cuts are heaping immense pressure on our hospitals and the hardworking frontline staff who work in them.
“Only Welsh Conservatives will address patient concerns and provide our health service with the investment it so desperately needs.”
