ICB WATCH: How bad are delayed discharges in your area?

Many patients are ready to leave the hospital each month but can’t because the services they need afterwards are unavailable, such as social care, home care, or a space in a residential home. While they wait, new patients cannot secure a bed, so bed days are effectively lost.

3 Key points

1. The latest figures for November 2025 indicate that more than 291,000 bed days were lost due to delayed discharges. a steep rise of nearly 9% compared with August. The average delay for patients was approximately 5.9 days across England. 49,688 patients experienced some form of delay, and in the worst cases, 2654 patients waited 21 days or more in hospital without a medical reason to remain. More than 15% of inpatients were delayed (13.3% in August).
2. Delayed patient discharge has significant adverse effects on multiple areas of the healthcare system, including increased crowding in A&E, longer ambulance handover times, and a shortage of beds for elective care. Unnecessarily prolonged hospital stays harm patient health, mental and emotional well-being, and independence.
3. Recent governments have prioritised reducing the number of patients in this situation, and integrated care boards (ICBs) have aimed towards achieving this goal. However, according to one 2024 analysis, promised funding was not delivered.  Fundamental capacity issues in health and social care settings continue to hinder progress.    MORE>>