Nursing Care Deserts UK 2026 — Lowest Nursing-Bed Capacity per Older Resident

Age-adjusted, beds-led analysis of nursing-home supply across English local authorities. Primary metric: active registered nursing-home beds per 100 residents aged 75+ (OHID Fingertips indicator 92493).

National distribution (nursing beds per 100 aged 75+)

Median

4.7

Mean (sd)

4.72 (1.54)

Severe-undersupply (p10)

2.7

Well-supplied (p75)

5.6

Based on 111 local authorities with adequate nursing bed coverage. 5 local authorities have zero active nursing beds in the CQC directory — treated as severe undersupply where 75+ population > 0.

30 most under-supplied local authorities (nursing beds)

#	Local authority	Region	Pop. 75+	Nursing beds	/100 age 75+	Band
1	Haringey	London	12,200	122	1.0	Severe
2	Southwark	London	13,300	269	2.0	Severe
3	Tower Hamlets	London	8,100	165	2.0	Severe
4	Hackney	London	10,500	224	2.1	Severe
5	Tameside	North West	19,900	411	2.1	Severe
6	East Riding of Yorkshire	Yorkshire & The Humber	45,000	930	2.1	Severe
7	Leicestershire	East Midlands	69,400	1,457	2.1	Severe
8	Waltham Forest	London	13,500	302	2.2	Severe
9	Barnsley	Yorkshire & The Humber	23,200	543	2.3	Severe
10	Cornwall	South West	76,800	1,864	2.4	Severe
11	Norfolk	East of England	109,800	2,810	2.6	Severe
12	Lewisham	London	14,600	389	2.7	Severe
13	Dudley	West Midlands	32,300	933	2.9	Undersupply
14	Devon	South West	99,600	2,911	2.9	Undersupply
15	Camden	London	11,500	346	3.0	Undersupply
16	Isle of Wight	South East	21,600	649	3.0	Undersupply
17	Portsmouth	South East	13,700	427	3.1	Undersupply
18	Leicester	East Midlands	20,200	646	3.2	Undersupply
19	Redbridge	London	18,600	622	3.3	Undersupply
20	Coventry	West Midlands	23,600	775	3.3	Undersupply
21	Wakefield	Yorkshire & The Humber	32,400	1,056	3.3	Undersupply
22	Kensington and Chelsea	London	10,200	347	3.4	Undersupply
23	Brent	London	18,700	667	3.6	Undersupply
24	Doncaster	Yorkshire & The Humber	29,000	1,036	3.6	Undersupply
25	Kirklees	Yorkshire & The Humber	35,700	1,292	3.6	Undersupply
26	Lincolnshire	East Midlands	94,000	3,422	3.6	Undersupply
27	Bexley	London	21,700	805	3.7	Undersupply
28	Redcar and Cleveland	North East	14,700	547	3.7	Undersupply
29	Bolton	North West	24,800	936	3.8	Average
30	Stockport	North West	29,100	1,101	3.8	Average

Best-supplied areas (nursing beds)

#	Local authority	Nursing beds	/100 age 75+
1	Kingston upon Thames	1,249	10.7
2	Surrey	9,182	8.0
3	Oxfordshire	4,920	8.0
4	Newcastle upon Tyne	1,641	7.5
5	Croydon	1,891	7.4
6	Cheshire East	3,298	7.4
7	Barnet	1,884	7.2
8	Warrington	1,377	7.2
9	Stoke-on-Trent	1,494	7.0
10	Middlesbrough	919	7.0

Cost vs nursing supply

Pearson r = -0.067 between nursing beds per 100 aged 75+ and weekly nursing council rate, across 109 LAs with both published.

Bottom supply quartile averages £1,421/week vs £1,351/week in the top supply quartile. Treat descriptively — cost is confounded by London and South East staffing markets.

Legacy secondary — nursing homes per 10,000 total population

Retained for continuity. Not the primary measure.

Local authority	Nursing homes	/10k total (legacy)	Nursing beds /100 age 75+ (primary)
Haringey	2	0.1	1.0
Southwark	3	0.1	2.0
Tower Hamlets	2	0.1	2.0
Waltham Forest	4	0.1	2.2
Camden	5	0.2	3.0
Hackney	4	0.2	2.1
Newham	6	0.2	4.2
Brent	9	0.3	3.6
Greenwich	10	0.3	4.9
Lambeth	8	0.3	4.8

Frequently asked questions

What is a nursing care desert?

A local authority in the bottom quartile of nursing-home bed capacity per 100 residents aged 75+. The bottom decile is labelled severe undersupply. Nursing homes provide 24-hour registered-nurse care for residents with complex clinical needs — areas without adequate nursing provision force families into longer journeys or delayed hospital discharges.

Which area has the lowest nursing-bed capacity?

Haringey in London has the lowest nursing-bed capacity on the primary metric, with 1.0 nursing beds per 100 residents aged 75+. That translates to 122 active nursing beds for 12,200 residents aged 75+.

Why is nursing-home availability worse than general care-home availability?

Nursing homes are more expensive to operate than residential-only homes because they require 24/7 registered nurses, specialist equipment, and clinical governance. Council fee rates often do not cover the true cost of nursing care, making it uneconomical for providers to offer nursing beds. Many nursing homes have converted to residential-only to reduce costs, further reducing supply. The NHS-funded Nursing Care contribution (£219.71/week in 2025-26) does not fully bridge the gap.

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Data sources: CQC Care Directory (OGL v3.0) for active nursing-home locations and bed counts; ONS 2022 mid-year estimates for 75+ denominators; NHS England ASC-FR for nursing unit costs; OHID Fingertips 92493 as validation benchmark. See the full methodology.