Big fall in number of NI hospital beds ‘not Department of Health policy’

This comes after figures released to the TUV MLA Jim Allister showed a decrease in the average number of available beds of around 10% since 2011.

Mr Allister described the decrease as “huge” and described it as a “deliberate Executive policy”.

The department has denied decreasing the number of hospital beds available on purpose but admitted a policy of reducing the length of time patients stay in hospital.

“There is no policy to reduce overall bed numbers within hospitals,” a spokesperson for the department said.

“There is, however, a policy to reduce patients’ length of stay in hospital. Unnecessary admissions or prolonged stays in hospital are bad for patients. This is particularly so in older people.”

The spokesperson continued: “We are increasingly able to provide much more appropriate healthcare without the need to admit patients to hospital.

“Acute care at home is an example of this where older patients can be treated in their own home by medical, nursing and other health professional staff without the need for hospital admission.

“Many surgical procedures previously requiring admission are now carried out on a day case basis.”

In 2011, the average number of hospital beds available was 6,371 but last year that figure had dropped to just 5,733.

In the Belfast Trust, there has been an even more significant decline of around 20% – from 2,402 in 2011 to 1,967 in 2019.

The Department of Health said bed numbers will be kept under “constant review”.