Figures reveal thousands of patients at Calderdale Royal Hospital classed as bed blockers

Bed blockers are patients who are medically able to leave hospital but have nowhere to go, and are also known as delayed discharges.

There were 2,202 of these in 2022, 2,555 in 2023, 2,508 in 2024 and 2,505 last year.

It is thought the cost of a night to care for someone when they could be discharged is £395, with delayed discharges estimated to cost the NHS around £2 billion a year.

The figures revealed to the Courier, under the Freedom of Information Act, suggest bed blocking is costing the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust around £1m per year.

Rory Deighton, acute care director at The NHS Alliance, said: “Delayed discharges are a significant challenge for NHS leaders and their teams across the country, so this is sadly a common issue in the NHS. Staff at Calderdale Royal Hospital are working incredibly hard to discharge patients safely and quickly, often in difficult circumstances under pressure. “Patients recover best when they receive the right care in the right place, and patients want to be home in their own beds as soon as they can be, sometimes with a small amount of support to help them do so. “Long term, tackling the issue of delayed discharges will require investment in, and reform of social care legislation. Until that time, staff at Calderdale Royal Hospital will keep working with their partners in social care and community services to get patients home from hospital quickly and safely.”

Kate Dearden, MP for Halifax said: "Staying in hospital when you are ready to leave benefits no-one – it’s distressing for those stuck in hospital and means hospitals have less space to treat new patients.

"It's why we're acting to bring more care into the community and boost investment and capacity in our NHS and social care sectors. "As the Government focuses on delivering better outcomes, I’ll keep working closely with our local NHS trust, care providers and all other stakeholders to ensure local experiences are shared, concerns about the challenges faced are heard and that progress on this issue is truly felt in Halifax."

Gemma Berriman, Chief Operating Officer at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, said: “To keep people safe, sometimes patients may need to stay with us for longer periods of time, even though they are medically well enough to go home. This can be because additional care needs to be arranged, such as support at home or input from other services.

“We work closely with our community partners to support patients to return home as soon as it is safe to do so.”