MORE overnight hospital beds are available across the county than before the covid pandemic despite shortages across England.

New data from NHS England shows an average of 911 overnight beds were available each night at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust across April, May and June.

That was an occupancy rate of 83.2% – a lower rate than the same period in 2019, when it was 89.8%.

Stephen Collman, managing director of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Despite the high demand for our services continuing, we are working hard alongside our partners across the health and social care system to improve patient flow.

"For example, we have increased our use of same day emergency care services which means, where appropriate, patients - who would otherwise have been admitted to hospital - are assessed, diagnosed and treated on the same day of arrival.

"We are also taking a 'home first' approach across our system focused on the importance of getting patients who no longer need acute hospital care discharged in a timely way.”

Across England there were 131,862 beds available in this period, an occupancy rate of 89%.

This stood at 88.6% 12 months earlier, and at 88.2% in 2019, before the Covid pandemic heaped intense pressure on the NHS.

The figures also breakdown different types of beds.

At Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust, 22.9% of maternity beds were occupied, while this rose to 87.6% of beds for general and acute care.

The Royal College of Physicians has warned the NHS is facing "unsustainable pressure", with high occupancy rates leading to delays in treatment.

The college's clinical vice president Dr John Dean believes high occupancy rates have clear consequences for patients and staff.

"Consistently high occupancy rates are leading to significant delays in treating newly presenting patients.

"Bed capacity issues are being further exacerbated by discharge delays due to pressures elsewhere in the care pathway, particularly in social care," he said

On treating patients in settings like hospital corridors, Dr Dean added: "This situation is completely unacceptable – it’s undignified for patients and not an environment where they can receive the best possible care."