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The number of hospital beds in the United Kingdom has undergone a decline since the year 2000. Whereas in 2000, there were around 240 thousand beds in the UK, by 2023 this figure was approximately 166 thousand. This means over this period, there were around 74 thousand fewer hospital beds in the UK. However, since 2020, the number of hospital beds has been increasing, the first time in the recorded time period.

Fewer beds but admissions are still high

There were almost 18.5 million admissions to hospital between April 2024 to March 2025 in England. The number of admissions has recovered since the drop in year 2020/21. The busiest hospital trust in England by admissions in the year 2024/25 was the University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust with over 391.5 thousand admissions. The average length of stay in hospitals in the UK in 2022 for acute care was nearly eight days.

Accident and Emergency

In the second quarter of 2024/5, A&E in England received around 6.7 million attendees. The number of attendances has been creeping upwards since 2012. Around 4 percent of people attending A&E in the last year were diagnosed with either an upper or lower respiratory tract infection, the most common diagnosis.