Doctors have warned that a shortage of beds in NHS critical care unit this winter is “inevitable”.

The winter flu season has begun in earnest with a particularly virulent Fujian strain of the virus infecting Brits.

A report by the Intensive Care Society (ICS), out today, claims that a massive £14 million set aside for care services has been lost in the system, and it is now unclear how much has been spent in this area.

The ICS said the Government’s focus on waiting list targets were “skewing” the management of care in hospitals across the country and added that many critical care beds were being used by patients in need of intensive care after major planned surgery, leaving emergency patients without beds.

The ICS highlighted the risk of transferring critically ill patients when beds were not available in their hospital, adding: “An intensive care bed crisis this winter is inevitable.”

The ICS insists there are huge variations in intensive care across Britain. The report, which is based on a survey of society members, claims that the biggest problem has been the slow growth in intensive care beds in recent years.

ICS president Dr Saxon Ridley said: “Hospitals are creaking because there are so many patients at every level.”

“A shortage of beds is a serious risk to patients who are critically ill. It is vital that the issue of funding in critical care is addressed and more ICU beds be made available.”

Dr Ridley said doctors would help hospitals to draw up contingency plans to try to avert a crisis.

The government has dismissed fears as “scaremongering” and insists that the report contained no evidence that suggested patients would receive inadequate critical care.

Health secretary John Reid said: “We have worked very closely with the ICS, the Royal College of Nursing and the British Association of Critical Care Nurses to secure significant improvements in access to and quality of critical care services for patients.”