Hospitals across England are under extreme pressure this winter.Hospitals across England are under extreme pressure this winter.
Hospitals across England are under extreme pressure this winter.

NHS tracker: the 16 fullest hospitals in England – trusts with the fewest available beds amid crisis

Hospitals across England were dangerously busy over the festive period - these hospitals were under the most pressure.

Nine in 10 hospitals in England were dangerously busy between Boxing Day and New Year, with some running out of spare beds for patients all together, new figures published today (6 January) show.

In the seven days to 1 January, 93.2% of general and acute hospital beds were occupied on average each day across acute trusts, analysis of NHS England figures by NationalWorld reveals. Each day around 93,500 beds were occupied, leaving fewer than 7,000 free. The figures are a 0.1 percentage point increase on the previous week’s figure’s when an average of 93.1% of beds were occupied.

Two hospitals were found to be functioning at 100% capacity, with one running out of beds every single day of the week, while 94 had an occupancy rate of above 92%. The figures are based on snapshots taken at 8 am each day over winter. NHS England and NHS Improvement have previously suggested 92% should be considered the recommended safe limit for bed occupancy in winter. However, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) endorses an 85% threshold. Based on the RCEM standard, 120 (87.6%) hospitals were found to be dangerously busy by functioning at 85% occupancy or above across the week.

Additional NHS figures out today show the strain flu and Covid-19 is putting on the health system. Flu patient numbers have surged by 1,626 (47%) in the last week, while the number of patients with Covid increased by almost 1,200. NHS 111 also answered the second highest number of calls ever in a week with 410,618 calls answered. The NHS said it has set up dozens of acute respiratory infection hubs and community falls response services to ease pressure on A&E departments.

Here we reveal the 16 hospitals with the highest bed occupancy rates over the New Year period.

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Two hospitals were found to be functioning at 100% capacity, with one running out of beds every single day of the week, while 94 had an occupancy rate of above 92%. The figures are based on snapshots taken at 8 am each day over winter. NHS England and NHS Improvement have previously suggested 92% should be considered the recommended safe limit for bed occupancy in winter. However, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) endorses an 85% threshold. Based on the RCEM standard, 120 (87.6%) hospitals were found to be dangerously busy by functioning at 85% occupancy or above across the week.

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