Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many additional hospital beds the Government estimates will be available in winter 2021-22 compared to the previous winter.

National Health Service bed capacity is not fixed and can be flexed to meet changes in demand. For winter 2021/22, demand remains uncertain due to factors including hospitalisations of patients with influenza or COVID-19. Last winter, hospitals opened significantly more beds than in previous years, including over 6,000 critical care beds.