The NHS is in the midst of a bed-blocking crisis – with up to one in three patients well enough to be discharged but unable to leave, damning figures show.
An average of 13,662 patients a day were stuck in hospitals in England in February despite being declared medically fit.
This means that one in seven beds (17 per cent) nationally was occupied by someone who should no longer have been there, rising to one in three (33 per cent) in the worst affected areas.
Many will have been waiting for a place in a care home or for their council to find them a carer who can help them wash, cook or dress in their own home, while others will have been waiting for prescriptions to be finalized or for other NHS managers .
The bottleneck is hampering efforts to reduce waiting lists, as new patients cannot be admitted if there is no place to recover after surgery, and is clogging emergency rooms, as there is no free space in the rooms to accommodate newcomers.
Leading health think tank the King’s Fund has estimated that it costs the NHS £395 a night to care for someone when they could be discharged, and the direct costs of delayed discharges will rise to £1.9bn in 2022/23.
Patients who remain in the hospital when they are ready to be discharged are also at greater risk of contracting infections and losing mobility and independence.
Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, who commissioned the House of Commons Library to analyze NHS figures, warned that “the welfare crisis is becoming a national emergency”.
It found that one in three available hospital beds (33 per cent) were out of service in Croydon due to delays in discharges, with 166 of 508 beds occupied by patients ready to leave.
This was the most affected area in the country and almost three times the national average.
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh were the second worst affected at 29 per cent, followed by the Isle of Wight (28 per cent), north Bristol (26 per cent) and Warrington and Halton (25 per cent).
MailOnline’s map looks at integrated care boards, which have clear geographical boundaries.
Instead, the examples mentioned are based on NHS trusts.
In Croydon, one in three available hospital beds was taken out of service due to delays in discharges, with 166 of 508 beds occupied by patients ready to leave.
The southwest was the hardest hit region, with 17 percent of beds occupied by patients fit to leave, followed by the southeast at 16.5 percent.
This compares with less than one in ten beds (9 per cent) occupied by delayed discharges in the east of England, the lowest rate in the country.
The Liberal Democrats are calling for a minimum wage for carers, set at £2 above the minimum wage, to address the huge workforce shortage in the care sector.
Davey said: “Thousands of people are left stranded in hospitals every day waiting for the care they need, as the NHS buckles under the pressure.”
‘Elderly relatives stuck alone in crowded hospital wards, when they could be cared for at home or with their families if they had the right support.
“There is a deafening silence from Rishi Sunak and his government about what they will do to fix the mess they have caused.”
Patricia Marquis, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “No one should stay in hospital longer than necessary, but every day thousands of people remain on wards simply because the NHS cannot discharge them to more appropriate care. “. .
‘This adds pressure on hospitals, leaving patients waiting for hours to be admitted and others receiving treatment in corridors, doorways and cupboards.
‘Politicians on all sides must show they understand that the NHS cannot be separated from social care.
“The pressures on one directly impact the other and it is the patients who suffer the consequences.”