Community Bed Audit
This annual mandatory audit collects data on community bed numbers and purposes, how they are commissioned, access to rehabilitation, reablement and recovery services and the host provider status. As bed capacity can be changeable, the audit asks for a ‘snapshot’ of bed usage and provision as close as possible to midnight on the snapshot day.
In scope – types of beds
The scope of this data collection includes all NHS, jointly commissioned and Better Care Fund (BCF) funded beds used for intermediate care purposes. The following list of bed types is not exhaustive, noting that local terminology for intermediate care beds may vary:
- intermediate care
- Pathway 2 (P2)
- transition
- step-down
- Acute admission avoidance/step-up
- discharge to assess (D2A)
- rehabilitation
- community beds for short-term services such as stroke, neuro rehabilitation and spinal recovery where they are not funded through specialised commissioning arrangements.
The published snapshot data includes;
- The number of community beds split by bed purpose
- The average length of stay (days) in community beds split by bed purpose
- The number of community beds split by access to rehabilitation status and commissioning status
- The number of community beds split by host provider status (NHS/Non-NHS)
Snapshot Data
Community Bed Audit – 4th March 2026
Pre-release access list
Pre-release access list – 4th March 2026
Contact
For further information about the published statistics, please contact us at: england.bedsanddischarges@nhs.net All policy queries should be directed to england.communitybeds@nhs.net