Professor John Robertson OBA
From Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (quarterly)
Quarter ending 31 December 2024, published today by Public Health Scotland:
There were on average 13,614 available staffed beds per day for all acute specialties in the quarter ending 31 December 2024 – a 1.3% decrease compared to the same quarter in the previous year. An available staffed bed is a bed which is resourced for inpatient or day case care. Of these, 9,737 (72%) were for medical specialties and 3,877 (28%) were for surgical specialties. For all acute specialties in the quarter ending 31 December 2024, the percentage occupancy was 88.8%, a 1.6 percentage point increase compared to the same quarter in the previous year. The percentage occupancy is the percentage of available staffed beds that were occupied on average by inpatients during the period.1
For the same period in NHS England, there were 132 520 beds available and occupancy was 90.3%.2
NHS Scotland thus has, per head of population, 3 620 more beds than it would have (136 140-132 520) if run by UK governments these last 18 years and a consequent lower occupancy rate enabling it to cope with sudden surges in demand.
Sources:
- https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-quarterly/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-quarterly-quarter-ending-31-december-2024/data-summary/
- https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/bed-availability-and-occupancy/bed-availability-and-occupancy-kh03/
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Bet you anything you like , John , that this stat won’t make it past the MSM editors as they deliberate on which SNP baaaad story to highlight in their propaganda sheets . In fact , the BBC in their impartiality will be attempting to frame this story in some negative way …
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Aye, but there’s always room for the exception and negative framing at HMS James Cook, such as ” NHS Scotland waits of more than two years on the rise ” https://archive.ph/30Tkg
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Your stats are wildly incorrect and misleading.
NHS Scotland will have 2.7% more beds (136,140/132,520) than if run by UK Government, equivalent to 372 beds (less than a tenth of your claim in the title).
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