NHS doctors the English language to turn chairs into beds

When is a bed not a bed? When the National Health Service has redefined it as "any device that may be used to permit a patient to lie down".

Hospitals have been told to include trolleys, couches and other "devices" used by reclining patients when counting bed availability. Official NHS guidance even allows chairs used by patients having dialysis to be counted as beds.

The Tories accused ministers yesterday of massaging figures to make the bed count on wards appear higher. The NHS dictionary, the official reference for staff recording hospital statistics, defines beds as "physical devices that may be used as a bed" or even "a means of support".

It goes on: "A bed includes any device that may be used to permit a patient to lie down when the need to do so is as a consequence of the patient's condition rather than the need for active intervention.

"Some procedures require narcosis [sleep]. If this necessitates the patient to lie down, the bed, couch or trolley can be counted as a hospital bed if used regularly for this purpose." It says "a day surgery ward furnished with trolleys" can also be included.

Chris Grayling, a Tory health spokesman, said this provided the first proof that the NHS was counting trolleys as beds. The MP for Epsom and Ewell now plans to raise the matter in the Commons. "The definition of a bed is so vague it could include anything you could lie on, including a row of chairs," he said. "The statistics are being manipulated to give a rosier picture."

The NHS Information Authority said last night that the definitions were designed "to ensure continuity throughout the health service".