THE number of hospital beds available in Suffolk has reduced by 20% in the past 10 years, it has emerged.

THE number of hospital beds available in Suffolk has reduced by 20% in the past ten years, it has emerged.

Figures released by the Department of Health show the number of available beds in Suffolk NHS hospitals has decreased from 1,501 in 1996/97 to 1,194 in 2006/07.

This is four per cent more than the total percentage of beds that have been axed in the whole of England.

West Suffolk Conservative MP Richard Spring said: “Continuously our local hospitals are on 'black alert' as a shortage of beds sees our hospitals at bursting point. Now we know the reason why.

“In the past 10 years, 20% of available beds have been cut.

“Having hospitals full to capacity raises the risk of superbugs such as Clostridium difficile and MRSA. At a time when we have already seen worrying increases in the amount of superbug cases at some hospitals in the region, these figures are even more disturbing.”

Prue Rush, spokeswoman for the Ipswich Hospital Patient and Public Involvement Forum, said cutting back on hospital beds was down to financial reasons.

She added: “We have long said that cutting back the beds at the rate they have will cause problems and judging by recent times, when hospital's were on black alert, what we have said has proved to be right.

“A lot of the beds that have gone are the interim beds so people cannot go from acute to community hospital and so the acute beds are blocked.

“The care in the community is not yet in place and patients are inevitably delayed getting their care and perhaps sent out earlier than they should as well because hospitals are trying to reach targets.”

A spokesman for NHS East of England said: “Over the past ten years, healthcare has changed radically. A new generation of drugs, a better skilled workforce and better information technology mean that many patients can be treated at home or in more local, community settings.

“Day and short stay surgery are increasingly used for procedures that previously needed a long stay in hospital.”

NHS East of England also said the figures show that average bed occupancy at West Suffolk Hospital, Ipswich Hospital and Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, has been consistently at or below 85% - the maximum recommended by infection control guidelines.

The spokesman added: “It is therefore entirely incorrect to say that a reduced number of beds have led to an increased risk of infection.”

In 1996/97, there were a total of 198,848 hospital beds available in England. This has now decreased by 16% to 167,019 beds.