Miniscule rise in intensive care beds puts 1 in 3 patients at risk

1.34.45pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 24th Feb 2004

Paul Burstow MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the BBC survey of intensive care units, today challenged the Department of Health to speed up the process of improving intensive care. Liberal Democrat analysis of statistics from the Government's latest critical care census shows that, if current trends continue, it will take until 2015 until the number of beds reaches an acceptable level.

Paul Burstow commented:

"A 1% increase in intensive care beds since last year is pathetically inadequate. Patients' lives are put at risk because we do not have enough intensive care beds. Seriously ill people have to be moved from their beds at night, or shipped around the country searching for a bed. Urgent operations have to be cancelled. It is just not good enough".

Research published in the British Medical Journal, which concluded that number of intensive care beds needed to rise by 16% if patients were not to be put at risk of dying from being discharged too early. The study found that "mortality after discharge from intensive care could be reduced by nearly 39% if these patients stayed another two days before discharge". The reason patients were being discharged, it was concluded, was a lack of intensive care beds. The Authors claimed that 1 in 3 patients were at risk.

Research by the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre, has shown that more and more patients are discharged at night, almost certainly due to a lack of beds. The chances of dying in hospital are 1.4 times higher for those discharged from intensive care during the night.