NHS bed blocking crisis exposed: Up to one in THREE beds taken up by medically fit patients with nowhere to go in busiest hospitals

The NHS is in the grip of a bed-blocking crisis with one in three patients feeling well enough to be discharged but unable to leave, damning figures have revealed.

In February, an average of 13,662 patients were admitted to hospital per day in England, despite doctors being declared medically fit.

It means that one in seven beds (17 percent) nationally were filled by someone who should no longer have been there, rising to one in three (33 percent) in the worst affected areas.

Many will have been waiting for a place in a care home or for the local authority to find them a carer to help them wash, cook or dress in their own home, while others will have been waiting for prescriptions or other NHS administration to be completed . .

The bottleneck is hampering efforts to reduce waiting lists, because new patients cannot be admitted if they have nowhere to recover after surgery and emergency departments become clogged because there is no free space in the wards to accommodate newcomers.

Leading health think tank King’s Fund has calculated that it costs the NHS £395 a night to care for someone when they could be made redundant, with the direct costs of delayed redundancies totaling £1.9 billion in 2022/2023.

Patients who remain in the hospital when they are ready to be discharged are also at greater risk of contracting infections and losing their mobility and independence.

Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey, who commissioned the House of Commons Library to analyze NHS figures, warned that the ‘social care crisis is turning into a national emergency’.

It emerged that one in three available hospital beds (33 per cent) in Croydon were out of use due to delayed discharges, with 166 of the 508 beds taken up by patients ready to leave.

This was the worst affected area in the country and almost three times the national average.

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh came in second 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.

The aforementioned examples are instead based on NHS trusts.

The South West was the worst hit region with 17 per cent of beds occupied by patients ready to leave, followed by the South East with 16.5 per cent.

This compares with fewer than one in ten beds (9 percent) taken up by delayed discharges in the east of England, the lowest rate in the country.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a minimum wage for care workers, set at £2 above the minimum wage, to tackle the massive labor shortage in the care sector.

Mr Davey said: ‘Thousands of people are stranded in hospitals every day, waiting for the care they need, while the NHS buckles under the pressure.

‘Elderly relatives were left alone in overcrowded hospital wards, while they could be cared for at home or with their family if the right support was available.

‘There is a deafening silence from Rishi Sunak and his government about what they will do to fix the mess they have made.’

Patricia Marquis, executive director 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 somewhere where they are a better fit. can receive care. .

‘This increases pressure in hospitals, leaving patients waiting for hours to be admitted and others being treated in corridors, doorways and pantries.

‘Politicians on all sides must show that they understand that you cannot separate the NHS from social care.

‘Pressure on one person directly affects the other and it is the patients who suffer the consequences.’