BBC investigation finds medically fit patients waiting months for hospital discharge

Almost three quarters of hospitals in England have had patients wait for more than 100 days to be discharged, even though they are medically fit to leave, a report suggests.

One patient had to wait for more than a year, according to a BBC investigation.

The 62-year-old patient, who had been treated by Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, waited 449 days to be discharged.

The report, gathered through data obtained under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, suggested that reasons for delays included a lack of home care, nursing home places and support for stroke patients, the BBC said.

FOI requests were sent to 122 hospital trusts in England about their longest delayed discharges over the last three years and 62 provided information.

Overall 45 of these hospital trusts had seen patients unable to be discharged for more than 100 days over the last three years.

One patient at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust waited 342 days for a care home placement.

A paralysed patient waited for 324 days at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust near Oswestry, Shropshire, before discharge.

Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust was unable to discharge a stroke patient for 313 days due to a lack of care for the patient once outside hospital.

A National Audit Office report released earlier concluded that a Government plan to integrate health and social care is failing to save money or stem the rise in hospital admissions.

The NHS is suffering due to record-high numbers of delayed discharges, where patients are medically fit to leave hospital but there are delays in arranging their social care in the community.

Councils, which arrange and pay for some of the care, are also under huge pressure due to budget cuts.

_{Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2017, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Peter Byrne / PA Wire.}