Top doc pleads for more NHS beds and 24 new hospitals to cope with immigration and aging population
UK has 2.7 hospital beds per 1,000 people compared to 6.2 in France
THE NHS needs a dramatic increase in casualty beds and 24 new hospitals, a leading medic has warned.
Dr Chris Moulton blamed migration, rising numbers of elderly and higher birth rates.
Figures show Britain had 2.7 hospital beds per 1,000 people in 2014, compared to 8.2 in Germany, 6.2 in France and three in Spain.
Dr Moulton, vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said the NHS was “fighting a tide”.
Speaking at health think-tank the King’s Fund, he said: “We need a dramatic increase in the number of beds.
“Our population has increased. We have rising birth rates and increasing life expectancy. Lot’s more older people.
“If you have a bigger population, it’s not surprising that they are going to use more electricity, more water and more healthcare.
“We probably need 23 or 24 more District General Hospitals just to keep pace with what we had 10-15 years ago.”
Numbers attending A&E have risen 22 per cent in the past decade.
But Dr Moulton said many sick Brits had no choice but to attend A&E – particularly on weekends.
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One in six casualty patients are sent by the NHS 111 service on weekdays.
But this number rises to almost one in three on Saturdays and Sundays, as there is nowhere else to get medical help.
Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director at NHS England, said the health service has to make it easier for patients to know where to go.
He said: “We have got growing demand.
“We need to improve the offer for people out of hospitals, in order to alleviate some of the tsunami of people who are attending A&E because the lights are on.”