The Health Foundation's latest research has revealed that 39,000 extra NHS beds could be needed in 2030/31 to maintain pre-pandemic standards of care - even if the NHS continues to reduce the length of time people stay in hospital.

The analysis from the Foundation's REAL Centre indicates that the build cost could be between £17bn and £29bn, depending on a range of factors such as inflation and increasing construction costs.

Currently, the NHS has fewer beds per 100,000 population and shorter hospital stays compared to other health systems in comparable countries. The Health Foundation says that while this is a sign of efficiency, increasing demand is now causing critical pressures in hospitals.

Anita Charlesworth, Director of Research and the REAL Centre at the Health Foundation, said:

"Our projections show meeting the future demand for hospital care could require a far larger increase in bed supply than we would expect under the government’s current hospital plan, and significant additional funding for the DHSC capital budget.

"At the moment, there is no national assessment of the amount of capacity the NHS needs. Hospitals are full, and long waits for ambulances and A&E are a reflection of the pressures on hospital capacity. How quickly patients can safely be discharged plays a major role in the number of extra beds the NHS will need. The pressures hospitals face are linked to a lack of capacity in social and community care, making it hard to discharge patients. Policymakers need to look at capacity in the round, inside and outside of hospital, and set out a realistic plan for how the NHS will meet rising demand over the long-term.

"But whatever choices are made to meet rising demand, doing nothing isn’t an option."

View the Health Foundation's research - How many hospital beds will the NHS need over the coming decade?