The NHS experienced the busiest week in its history last week, with record numbers of hospitals having to send patients elsewhere or declare a major alert.
Fifty-two hospital trusts had to send ambulances elsewhere between 8 and 15 January, up from 39 the previous week and 27 in the second week of January last year, NHS England figures show.
Hospitals activate “A&E divert” plans when their emergency department is struggling with the number of patients turning up seeking care.
Sixty-eight trusts – 45% of the 152 in total in England – declared an alert last week, up from 65 the week before, in another sign that some hospitals can no longer meet demand.
NHS England said the rise was partly due to a change in how it records data, but doctors said last week was the most challenging and relentless they had ever faced.
On Monday 9 January 61 trusts issued an alert, which is thought to be the highest number ever on a single day.
Fifteen trusts were on alert continuously for 11 days in a row between 3 and 13 January. They included trusts in Stoke-on-Trent and in Copeland, Cumbria, where two parliamentary byelections are due.
Overall, England’s 152 acute NHS trusts – which between them run about 250 hospitals – recorded bed occupancy rates of 95.8% last week, well above the 85% considered safe. That was up slightly on the 94.8% in the week after the new year holiday weekend.
On Tuesday 10 January bed occupancy across England hit 96.4%, 15 trusts were full and another 24 had five beds or fewer free for patients who needed to be admitted as an emergency.
Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesman, said: “This NHS winter crisis brings bad news day after day and patients are paying the price.
“The government is doing nothing to deal with it. I don’t know how bad the figures need to get for them to actually take action.”
The figures emerged as a man was reported to have been evicted from his hospital bed by court order after he “unnecessarily” refused to leave for more than two years.
James Paget university hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, said it had launched legal action against the man, who has not been named due to patient confidentiality, as a last resort. A court of possession granted the order on 1 December and he was removed on 10 January and placed in accommodation in the community.
Anna Hills, the hospital’s director of governance, told the BBC: “The gentleman repeatedly refused all offers of appropriate accommodation organised by our local authority and social care partners, despite being fit for discharge.”
