Shrink hospitals as part of plan to revive NHS, thinktank says

Hospitals need to become smaller, with fewer beds, in order to help save the NHS from its “permacrisis”, a thinktank has said.

- Denis Campbell Health policy editor

The role hospitals play needs to undergo “a fundamental reinvention” in order to help them escape the overcrowding that has become widespread over the last decade, according to the thinktank Re:State.

The thinktank argues in a new report that doing so will save the NHS billions of pounds, lead to better care, and relieve pressure on staff.

Hospitals could shed thousands of beds as the result of a massive expansion of care delivered in and near people's homes. People will have much less need to go to or stay in hospital if they can access diagnostic tests, outpatient appointments and treatment at home or in community settings.