Nine English NHS trusts now have at least half their adult acute beds occupied by covid-positive patients, with admissions still growing in every case.

HSJ’s analysis also shows that two entire health systems — Kent and Medway and East London — have hit the 50 per cent mark.

Ten out of England’s 42 health systems (known as sustainability and transformation partnerships) now have covid-19 bed occupancy of 33 per cent or more. The same situation is affecting 31 of 126 general acute trusts (25 per cent). 

These findings are based on HSJ’s analysis of NHS internal figures for occupancy and total beds up to 5 January. It covers adult general and acute beds only — not intensive care, where covid pressure is also very high.

The nine trusts with 50 per cent plus occupancy include two — Whittington Health Trust and North Middlesex University Hospital Trusts — where covid occupancy is above 60 per cent. Both serve the north central London area.

The 10 health systems with at least 33 per cent include all five in London, and five in surrounding areas, stretching up to Bedfordshire in the Midlands. The trusts also include some outside the South East — two in Cheshire, one in Norfolk, and Portsmouth Hospitals Trust.

The figures for new covid cases in hospital (admissions with covid and those diagnosed in hospital) included in the tables below — as opposed to covid occupancy, which measures the number in hospital — show that in nearly all of the areas and trusts, the rate grew over the past seven days, meaning occupancy is very likely to keep increasing.

Trusts with estimated covid-19 occupancy of 33 per cent or greater:

Trust name Current estimated covid-19 occupancy in adult G&A beds Change in seven-day rolling covid admissions (new cases) over past seven days

Whittington Health NHS Trust

63%

+ 52%

North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust

63%

+ 23%

Medway NHS Foundation Trust

57%

+ 35%

Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust

54%

+ 63%

Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

54%

+ 29%

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust

53%

+ 55%

Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

52%

+ 39%

Croydon Health Services NHS Trust

50%

+ 13%

Barts Health NHS Trust

50%

+ 35%

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust

49%

+ 14%

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

49%

+ 25%

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust

47%

+ 87%

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust

46%

+ 36%

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

45%

+ 42%

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

45%

+ 26%

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

45%

+ 27%

Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

44%

+ 36%

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust

44%

-17%

The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

44%

+ 2%

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust

43%

+ 69%

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

41%

+ 106%

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust

40%

+ 59%

Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

39%

+ 47%

Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

39%

+ 28%

London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust

38%

+ 102%

East Cheshire NHS Trust

37%

+ 76%

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust

37%

+ 4%

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust

36%

0%

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust

35%

+ 40%

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn, NHS Foundation Trust

34%

+ 63%

St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

34%

+ 62%

Health systems (STPs) with estimated covid-19 occupancy of 33 per cent or more

STP Current estimated covid-19 occupancy in adult G&A beds Change in seven-day rolling covid admissions (new cases) over past seven days

Kent and Medway

50.7%

+ 31.1%

East London

50.0%

+ 22.8%

Mid and South Essex

48.6%

+ 25.1%

North Central London

46.4%

+ 41.8%

Frimley Health

44.8%

+ 23.6%

Hertfordshire and West Essex

42.9%

+ 66.7%

South West London

40.7%

+ 40.7%

South East London

38.9%

+ 56.6%

Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes

38.4%

+ 26.9%

North West London

35.3%

+ 37.7%

Hospitals dealing with covid occupancy of more than 33 per cent are highly likely to be under serious operational pressure. However, this analysis cannot take full account of factors like cancelling elective care, extra beds opening or having to be closed, or the concentration of covid pressure at particular hospitals within multi-site trusts. Nor does it reflect the number of non-covid patients a trust is treating.