By The UK officially has one of the lowest number of critical care beds per head in Europe, according to NHS Providers.
It has been estimated that the UK has just 7.3 critical care beds per 100,000 people. In Germany, the figure is 33.8, while in the USA it is 34.3.
NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts in England, is calling for a review on the capacity of the NHS due to the shortage of critical care beds.
A spokesperson from the organisation stated: “The UK is towards the bottom of the European League table for critical care beds per head of population.
“It’s neither safe nor sensible to rely on NHS hospital trusts being able to double or triple their capacity at the drop of a hat as they’ve had to over the last two months, with all the disruption to other care and impossible burdens on staff that involves.
“There have been too many reviews of NHS capacity in the past where huge amounts of time have been wasted because the government has not been willing to fund the results of what’s been found.
“A significant expansion in the number of intensive care beds needs to be a lasting legacy of Covid-19. That would ensure that the NHS can provide the right quality of intensive care to the sickest patients where access to that care is literally a matter of life and death.”
Shortages of critical care beds during the latest surge of Covid-19 resulted in the NHS transferring record numbers of patients infected with the disease to hospitals outside of their home area. Some hospitals in London had no choice but to transfer patients as far away as Newcastle and Yorkshire.
A spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care said: “The government is determined to back the NHS in every possible way in its fight against this virus, investing £52bn this year and £20bn next.
“This is on top of £9.4bn capital funding to build and upgrade 40 new hospitals and £3bn earmarked for supporting recovery and reducing the NHS waiting list.”
