Rotherham Hospital “full up” due to winter bed shortages

Weekly figures from NHS England showed that occupancy did not dip below 93 per cent between January 15 and 21 - well above the Royal College of Nursing 85 per cent “safe” level.

On January 15, it reached 99.3 per cent and on the following day it peaked at 100 per cent.

A spokeswoman for the hospital trust said they “very, very rarely have a patient in a corridor”.

Charlie Carruth, regional health lead for public sector union Unison, blamed the bed shortage on under-funding of both health and social care.

He said: “It’s no surprise the hospital was, in effect, full up.”

Chris Holt, deputy chief executive at Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are continuing to experience periods of increased demand from people attending our emergency department and those requiring beds in hospital.

“This increased demand does mean that our bed occupancy level does fluctuate.

“However, as a result of robust winter planning, building on experience of previous years and the fantastic hard work of all of our colleagues, we continue to provide our patients with the high quality care they need.”