Less people occupying Wigan's hospital beds

Bed occupancy at Wigan's hospital has dropped every so slightly

Latest NHS England figures show general and acute wards at the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Trust (WWL) were 96.2 per cent full on average from February 18 to 24, down from 96.3 the week before but still well above the safe limit of 85 per cent recommended by health experts.

The occupancy rate has remained mostly unchanged since the previous week.

According to NHS Improvement, occupancy rates of 92 per cent and above lead to significantly worse A&E performance.

The BMA also raised concerns about the number of available beds needed to cope with winter demands.

On average, WWL had 443 available beds each day, of which 426 were in use.

Of those, 26 were escalation beds - temporary beds set up in periods of intense pressure, often in corridors or day care centres.

According to NHS Improvement, a higher proportion of long-stay patients can impact the ability of hospitals to accommodate urgent admissions and manage bed capacity.

At WWL, 155 patients had been in hospital for a week or more, taking up more than a third of the occupied beds.