Delayed discharges from hospitals, a phenomenon Age UK terms a "crisis hiding in plain sight," cost the National Health Service (NHS) an estimated £2.66 billion last year. An average of 13,000 patients per day remained in hospital despite being medically fit to leave, a 70 percent increase over five years, according to the charity's report, "The Longest Wait to Leave."
This situation resulted in 6.75 million lost bed days in the 2025/26 fiscal year, representing 14.4 percent of all available beds. The delays are reported to cause harm to elderly patients, exacerbating frailty and leading to a loss of independence. Furthermore, these hold-ups create bottlenecks further down the healthcare chain, preventing timely admissions of new patients to wards and hindering the efficient offloading of ambulances at emergency departments. This, in turn, can lead to extended waits for ambulance services and care provided on trolleys in corridors.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, stated that policymakers have largely ceased discussing delayed discharges, despite their significant and rising prevalence. "They do enormous harm to older people and cost the NHS and the taxpayer an absolute fortune," Abrahams said. She emphasized that addressing corridor care at hospital entrances is impossible without tackling discharge delays at the "back door."
Age UK's report indicates that 57 percent of patients ready to leave hospital on any given day in the last year did not do so, with regional variations. Some delays originate within hospitals, including waits for doctor reviews, discharge summaries, medications, and transport. Others stem from difficulties in securing home-care packages, rehabilitation services, community nursing, or care home placements.
In 2025/26, over 570,000 incidents of corridor care were recorded, an increase from the previous year. This trend persists despite a government pledge to end such practices within the current parliamentary term.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care acknowledged the significant cost of delayed discharges to the NHS and confirmed that work to address the issue is underway. They cited the recent publication of NHS England's model discharge pathway, designed to promote best practices for timely and safe patient discharges. The department also stressed the urgent need to reform social care, stating that delayed discharge must be a central part of discussions on building a more effective care system.
The report also highlighted that waits of over 12 hours in A&E for a hospital bed reached 50,000 in June, a new high for that month and typically seen during winter peaks. Adult general and acute beds operated at an average occupancy of 94.5 percent in 2025/26, well above the 85 percent threshold considered safe by experts.