Hospitals in Leeds, Barnsley and Harrogate ran out of beds last week according to NHS figures

Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Leeds Teaching Hospitals and Harrogate Hospital all ran out of beds at least once in the week leading up to February 6 according to figures published by NHS England.

General and acute beds are for people admitted from A&E departments, by their GP, or who are recovering post surgery, and do not include beds from intensive care wards.

Having patients in more than 85 per cent of beds is deemed by NHS guidelines as being too busy, and every adult hospital trust in Yorkshire met that threshold, the figures from NHS England show.

Every bed of 1,530 available in Leeds was occupied on February 2, according to the figures, although a spokesperson told the Yorkshire Post this was down to a reporting error by NHS staff and that beds were still available on both adult general and acute wards.

In Harrogate on February 4 292 of 292 beds were in use, and in Barnsley on February 1 , evey bed 429 beds was occupied.

Russell Nightingale, Chief Operating Officer at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said “Last week for a short period of time there was a shortage of non-elective acute beds available at Harrogate District Hospital. The impact on the healthcare we could provide our patients was minimal as rapid escalation measures were implemented to increase outflow."

A spokesperson at Barnsley Hospital said: ‘’Patient safety is an absolute priority and we have measures in place to increase our capacity when necessary using escalation wards. Patients are continually admitted and discharged, it is usual process for us to manage our beds as required and ensure patient safety is maintained. We work closely with local and regional partners to ensure optimal discharges back into the community and appropriate care pathways.

It comes days after Boris Johnson confirmed in the House of Commons that people who test positive for coronavirus will no longer have to self-isolate from the end of this month, bringing to an end two years of disruption caused by positive cases, but sparking fears among scientists that the step is premature and could put clinically extremely vulnerable people at risk.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid set out plans this week to help the NHS in England recover from Covid-19, although he has admitted the number of people waiting will continue to rise for another two years.

Some estimates suggest the waiting list could go up at least 50 per cent or almost double before it starts to fall back again.

NHS national medical director, Professor Stephen Powis said: “While seasonal pressures are ongoing, we are now beginning to see the full picture of the Omicron winter on the NHS, and despite sky-high staff absences, hardworking NHS staff continued to make inroads on the backlog that has inevitably built up and delivered 120,000 more tests and checks in December compared to the same time last year.”