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Shaping the future NHS: Long Term Planning for Hospitals and Related Services Response to the Consultation Exercise on the Findings of The National Beds Inquiry

The NBI grew out of concerns that the long-term decline in staffed hospital beds might have gone too far. The length of hospital waiting lists and waiting times and the recurrence of winter pressures on emergency beds suggested that present hospital services were not well matched to patient need. At the same time, there was continuing evidence of inappropriate and avoidable use of hospital beds. To address these issues the National Beds Inquiry was asked to review assumptions about future growth in the volume of acute health services and their implications for hospital beds and other health-related services.

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