The NHS needs forty thousand more hospital beds in England alone to survive the next decade –

A report warns NHS England will need 40,000 additional beds by the end of the decade to return to pre-pandemic hospital care standards.

The Health Foundation estimates it will cost taxpayers £30 billion to build capacity to meet the growing demand for care.

As the population ages and gets fatter, human diseases are expected to become more complex by 2030.

This means that patients need more care and longer hospital stays, increasing the pressure on the healthcare system.

The analysis found that hospital capacity in the UK has more than halved over the past 30 years.

As a result, the number of beds per capita in the country is lower than in most developed countries, including Lithuania, Poland and Hungary.

The Health Foundation said the NHS will need at least 23,000-39,000 additional beds by 2030 to bring healthcare back to pre-pandemic care standards.

The UK not only has one of the lowest bed counts, but also one of the highest bed occupancy levels, at 89.6% in 2018. Only Ireland (90.7%), Canada (91.7%) and Israel (92.3%) . percent) occupied more beds on average

As the population ages and gets fatter, human diseases are expected to become more complex by 2030. This means that patients need more care and longer hospital stays, increasing the pressure on the healthcare system.

Older people are hospitalized more often and stay in hospital longer

Construction costs can range from £17bn to £29bn, but this will depend on a number of factors, including inflation.

The report said: ‘Even at this scale of increase, the NHS in England will be equal to or less than the average number of beds per capita compared to comparable countries.

It also called for the expansion of controversial “virtual wards” where patients are monitored remotely using mobile apps and devices capable of monitoring oxygen and blood pressure.

The UK has one of the lowest bed counts as well as one of the highest bed occupancy levels, with 89.6% of beds in 2018.

Only Ireland (90.7%), Canada (91.7%) and Israel (92.3%) have more full beds.

A bed-blocking crisis has emerged in England in recent years, attributed to a lack of capacity in nursing homes.

This is due to an increase in the number of patients, mostly the elderly, who need treatment but do not require hospitalization.

The NHS will receive an additional £12bn a year to clear its Covid debts, financed by a controversial 1.25% increase in the national insurance tax.

However, given two other pressing issues facing the NHS, there are no public plans to increase the workforce or bed capacity in the coming years.

Amanda Pritchard, head of NHS England, brought up the bed capacity crisis at the health service’s annual conference last month.

He candidly said that health care “has passed the point where efficiency has become virtually inefficient.”

Anita Charlesworth, Research Director and Real Center for Healthcare Foundation, said: “Our projections suggest that meeting future demand for hospital care may require a much larger increase in bed supply than we currently anticipate in the public hospital plan.”

“There is currently no national assessment of the amount of capacity needed by the NHS.

“Hospitals are full and long waiting times for ambulances and emergency services reflect the pressure on hospital capacity.

The speed with which patients are discharged safely plays an important role in the number of extra beds the NHS needs.

“The pressures hospitals face are related to a lack of capacity in social and community care that makes it difficult to discharge patients.

“Policymakers need to look at all-round capacity inside and outside the hospital and develop a realistic plan for how the NHS will meet the growing long-term demand.

“But whatever choice is made to meet the growing demand, doing nothing is not an option,” he said.