WYE Valley NHS trust's beds were 97.9% full on average - well above the recommended safe limit of 85%, new figures show.

The data released yesterday shows how the NHS Trust coped in the week from January 29 to February 4.

In hospitals where more than 85% of beds are occupied, there is a greater risk of patients receiving inadequate care, being placed on an inappropriate ward for their condition, or contracting superbugs such as MRSA, according to the British Medical Association.

The Wye Valley figure of 97.9% was up from the previous week's figure of 89.8%.

Of 245 available beds, 240 were in use on average throughout the week.

Of these, 24 were "escalation beds", temporary beds set up in periods of intense pressure.

These are sometimes placed in areas not usually used for hospital patients, such as gyms or day care centres.

This number has increased since the previous week, when 21 escalation beds were in use.

Bed blocking, where a patient is well enough to be discharged but unable to leave because the next stage of their care has not been organised, contributes significantly to A&E delays.

And the figures showed that 26 patients had spent at least three weeks in hospital, taking up 10.6% of all beds.