Less hospital beds were occupied in Oxford University Hospitals in the first three months of this year than the year before, new figures have revealed.
New figures from NHS England show 93.8 per cent of 1,112 overnight beds were occupied at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the three months to March.
This was a drop from 95 per cent over the same period a year before.
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This was not in line with the national trend, as across England occupancy rates rose again in the last quarter, reaching 89.8 per cent, which is just shy of the record of 90 per cent in March 2018.
For general and acute settings, this figure was 92.3 percent which is the highest rate since the pandemic began.
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Sarah Scobie, director of research at the Nuffield Trust think tank, said: “No health system should be running their hospitals this hot.
“Frequent high levels of beds in use have contributed to record waiting lists we are seeing now, and there is also evidence that overcrowded hospitals increase risks to patients and link to higher rates of mortality.”
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Ms Scobie said greater investment was needed in buildings and equipment, alongside improving care services outside of hospitals.
In acute settings at Oxford University Hospitals, 96.1 percent of beds were filled in the three months to March.
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A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Cutting waiting lists is one of the government’s top five priorities and we are investing up to £14.1 billion in health and social care over the next two years, on top of record funding.
"Waiting times have substantially reduced from the peak of winter pressures in December and the NHS has set out ambitious plans to improve access to care.
“This includes delivering 5,000 additional permanent hospital beds for next winter as well as an extra 3,000 virtual ward beds to safely care for people from home, resulting in over 10,000 in total by autumn."
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