A stacked area chart from the Institute for Government showing the number of NHS hospital beds in England from 1987/88 to 2024/25. The total number of available beds has fallen from almost 300,000 in 1987/88 to around 145,000 in 2024/25, driven largely by the decline in ‘other beds’ (for mental health, maternity and learning disability care), which fell from over 116,000 to around 26,000. General and acute overnight beds decreased from about 181,000 to 106,000, while day-only beds increased from roughly 2,000 to 13,000.