The adult critical care unit at the King’s College Hospital NHS Trust was running well above maximum safe capacity at the end of June, according to NHS England.

Figures show 91 of the 96 critical care beds in the unit were full – an occupancy of 95 per cent.

Guidelines say that any higher than 85 per cent and patient safety could be compromised.

But a King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust spokeswoman said patient safety had not been compromised, despite the increased demand in services.

“All patients at King’s are clinically reviewed for their need for an intensive care bed before being admitted to the critical care unit and patient safety is never compromised,” she said.

Furthermore, no operations had been cancelled and there had been no patient transfers due to lack of adult critical care beds, she explained.

In the trust’s children’s intensive care unit, 10 of the 12 beds were full.

In the neonatal intensive care unit at the trust, which treats ill or premature babies, 30 of the 35 cots were full – an occupancy rate of 86 per cent.

Chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) consultant committee Dr Rob Harwood said that critical care units work hard to keep occupancy at a lower level, to allow them to accept unpredictable emergency admissions.

He said: “If units are down to the last couple of beds then critical care consultants have to start making very difficult decisions about who to admit.”

“These pressures can no longer be blamed on the winter,” he added. “The NHS has been starved of resources over the last 8-10 years and we still expect it to deliver the goods.”

The trust was building a new critical care unit with more than 100 critical care beds, the spokeswoman said.

“King’s, in common with all other London trusts, is facing increasing demand for its services. In order to increase capacity at the Trust, a new critical care unit is currently being built and will open in phases over the next two years. Once fully open, the Trust will have more than 100 critical care beds,” she said.