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Workforce Information - Deep dive on bed occupancy in Devolved Nations, Winter 2025

We collate and analyse paediatric workforce and service information in the UK to support members, workforce planners and policy makers. Previously, we examined bed occupancy throughout England and for our fourth data 'deep dive', we review bed occupancy rates once again but this time across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Published January 2025

Our deep dive data

The data in this deep dive are taken from Public Health Scotland1 , Digital Health and Social Care Wales2 and the Northern Ireland Department of Health3 . They include overall total yearly bed occupancy data for each nation in addition to a breakdown by Health Board for each country with data collected from 14 Scottish Health Boards, six Welsh Health Boards and five Health Boards in Northern Ireland.  

There are no official guidelines for levels of occupancy, but NICE suggests a ‘pragmatic maximum’ of 90%4 , while for NHS England, it was recommended that occupancy should ideally not exceed 92% 5 6 .

Scotland

When looking at the totals for Scotland, bed occupancy is on average around 60% with a slight dip to 47% in 2020 most likely due to the pandemic when fewer patients were admitted due to restrictions.

Generally, most Health Boards including Grampian, Highlands and Lothian experienced average occupancy of somewhere between 40 and 60%. The Western Isles experienced near full occupancy for the six-year period in question, while Greater Glasgow and Clyde experienced above average levels of bed occupancy ranging from 70-90%, the situation worsening most recently, suggesting that service may be strained and staff wellbeing at risk. This is compared to Borders, Dumfries and Galloway and Forth Valley (with the exception of 2018) where figures remained low at 30-40%. 

Wales

When looking at the totals for Wales, on average bed occupancy was around 65% for the six-year period, again with a slight dip to 43% in 2020 most likely due to the pandemic when fewer patients were admitted due to restrictions.

There is a general trend, post-pandemic whereby bed occupancy returned initially to that pre-COVID, 2018 and 2019 and then continued to rise steadily. This was the case for Aneurin Bevan, Betsi Cadwaladr (although this was one Health Board that saw a jump in occupancy during 2020), Cwm Taf University while Cardiff and Vale and Swansea Bay both experienced an increase with a downturn more recently.

Northern Ireland

When looking at the totals for Northern Ireland, bed occupancy on average was around 68% for the six-year period, again with a slight dip to 52% in 2020 most likely due to the pandemic

Similar to Wales, there is a general trend post-2020 whereby bed occupancy returned initially to pre-COVID times in 2018 and 2019 and then continued to rise steadily.

This was the case for the five health boards included in this analysis, ie. Belfast, Northern, South Eastern (although due to a change in reporting we are unable to report the 2023 figure here), Southern and Western. Belfast has experienced the highest occupancy of late with just over 90%, with Southern at 80% compared to Northern and Western which have remained relatively stable. 

You can see our deep dive on bed occupancy rates in England, published in autumn 2024.