“Thousands” of NHS beds need to be cut, says new report
The independent UK think tank Reform has released a report titled “Fewer Hospitals, more competition” which suggests that the NHS needs to get rid of at least 30,000 hospital beds, mostly from every region in the country except the south, so that money can be saved and patient care can be improved.
This message has bigger implications for London, the North East and the North West as these areas have the largest amount of beds and hospitals than anywhere else in the country. It is also states that the North East has 40% more beds than the south which needs to change.
The report stresses that local authorities should not be concerned with decisions to close down wards but instead they should concentrate with cutting the NHS budget. It has also claimed that a number of beds are being occupied by the elderly who are not required to be in hospital. It is said that these beds could be used for other patients who needed to be cared for in the community. Previously, it has been recorded that although the NHS has been rightly cutting down beds during the past few years they have only be reducing beds in specialist and no acute care.
Other further measures to promote better standards and improve productivity of the NHS that have been expressed by the report include ensuring that these bed cuts should not reduce the quality of the service and to make the NHS locally accountable for its own actions through an intensive service redesign.