Age UK says “Recent governments have taken their eye off the ball on delayed discharges – up nearly 70% in five years"

Age UK says “Recent governments have taken their eye off the ball on delayed discharges – up nearly 70% in five years[i] : to end corridor care, as Ministers have promised, this must change”

At least 6.75 million bed days a year lost to delayed discharges[ii], costing the NHS £229 million in June alone[iii]

Charity says the term ‘bed-blocking’ should be abolished because it’s “victim-blaming and ageist”

Age UK is calling on the Government and NHS leaders to take urgent action to tackle delayed hospital discharges among older people, describing the issue as a “crisis hiding in plain sight”. This is essential, the Charity say, if there is to be any hope of reducing and ultimately eliminating excessively long waits in A&E and the associated phenomenon of corridor care – both of which severely impact our older population. 

In a powerful new report, The Longest Wait to Leave, Age UK’s new analysis shows how older people can experience harm at every stage of their journey into, through and out of hospital again, because of unwarranted delays. These can start with waiting for an ambulance, then in A&E for a decision to admit and a bed on a ward, finally culminating in a delayed discharge when they are well enough to go home.  

The Charity argues that far too little policy attention has been paid to tackling delayed discharges by successive governments, so it’s not surprising they have soared. Age UK’s analysis of the relevant statistics tells a sorry story:  

• In 2025/26, more than half (57%) [iv] of people that could be discharged on a typical day are still stuck in hospital. 

• This means over 13,000 people[v] every day are still in hospital despite being medically well enough to leave, overwhelmingly older people. 

• Since 2021, this number has grown by nearly 70%,[vi] 

• In 2025/26, 6.75 million bed days were lost to discharge delays of seven days or more.[vii]

• In June 2026, delayed discharges cost the NHS £229 million[viii]. For 2025/26 the total cost was £2.66 billion. 

• 12+ hour waits in A&E for a hospital bed hit 50,000 in June, a new high for that month and more typical of the height of winter. A shortage of hospital beds is a leading factor in this crisis, because if someone who is medically fit to leave is stuck in a bed that means it cannot be used by another person who needs to be admitted. 

• Across all of 2025/26, the average bed occupancy for adult general and acute beds was 94.5%[ix] well above the threshold of 85% that experts say is safe[x]. 

• Nearly 1 in 7 (14.4%)[xi]of all our hospital beds are being occupied by people who are medically fit to leave 

In October 2025, Age UK revealed that the number of people experiencing corridor care had grown 525-fold since 2015/16, reaching over half a million incidents in 2024/25. We now know that in 2025/26 this number increased again, reaching 570,957 incidents[xii], with a record 71,000 incidents in January 2026 alone. For comparison, in all of 2011/12, the earliest available full financial year, there were just 123 incidents across the entire year.  

The prevalence of corridor care continues to increase, despite a pledge from the previous Secretary of State for Health and Care to end corridor care within this Parliament. A leading factor in these waits is the availability of beds in NHS hospitals. Around 28% [xiii] of A&E attendances result in an admission, with almost half (45%) being older people. A combination of beds still being used by people medically fit for discharge and a declining overall number of beds means these admissions have nowhere to go. This not only directly harms older people, it also causes avoidable costs for the NHS and makes it harder for hospitals to cut long waiting lists for surgery and diagnostics.   

There are approximately 128,000 (6) NHS hospital beds available in total, potentially providing 46.7 million bed days a year. 6.75 million bed days lost to delayed discharges means more than 1 in 7 (14.4%) of all our hospital beds are being occupied by people who are medically fit to go home, with the proportion likely to be even higher in some places. The financial cost of these delays is staggering: 

Estimates from June 2026 were that delayed discharges cost the NHS upwards of £229 million in a single month. Across all of 2025/26, the annual cost was estimated to be £2.66 billion.  

Lack of social care is another reason for delayed discharges, and an associated problem is disagreements between councils and the NHS over who should pay for an older person’s support when they go back into the community. Unfortunately, sometimes older people get stuck in the middle of these funding disputes, and the longer someone waits in hospital, the greater their risk of deterioration. With every extra unnecessary day in hospital an older person’s needs are likely to increase, putting their chances of making a full recovery further out of reach.  

Delayed discharges are also something of a post-code lottery: in recent data (June 2026) 32 NHS Trusts[xiv]  (just over 25%) accounted for half of the total number of delayed discharges. In those 32 Trusts alone, and in a single month, 206,000 bed days were lost to delayed discharge, at a cost of £116 million. There is also a nearly 20 percentage point difference between the region with the lowest proportion of people stuck in hospital and the region with the highest proportion (44% vs 63%)[xv]– but overall, only one NHS region achieved more than half (56%) of people medically fit for discharge leaving hospital on a typical day (East of England). 

This shows that there is a significant challenge for those living in the worst affected areas, but it also speaks to the fact it doesn’t have to be this way. Age UK believes that with political will, the right policy responses and applying the lessons from those hospitals with much less of a problem with delays, it really should be possible to improve the situation, ultimately ending corridor care, as Ministers have pledged, and delays more generally.   

Age UK’s recommendations 

To address delayed discharges and improve care for older people, Age UK is calling on the Government to: 

• End the funding disputes between the NHS and local authorities over who pays for an older person who needs social care and other forms of support following discharge.  

• Face up to the need to increase the number of hospital beds.  

• Strengthen community capacity to help older people to get home, recover and stay well. This requires, among other things, enabling every older person to be assessed at home within 24 hours of discharge; the NHS being far more strategic and intentional in commissioning effective VCSFE organisations to help older people go home and settle, especially those living alone; and supporting the unpaid carers who will be caring for older people when they get home. Success will also depend on increasing the availability of intermediate care and reablement and ultimately, of course, on reforming social care and expanding its capacity.  

• Turbo-charge a peer learning programme for hospitals to help them to minimise in-hospital discharge delays, caused by factors such as waiting for discharge letters to be signed and medication and transport home to be organised.  

• Strengthen data collection: Trusts should be required to collect and publish their numbers of 12+ hour waits and delayed discharges, alongside the ages of those affected.  

In addition, the Charity repeats its calls for Government to: 

• Produce a funded operational plan to reduce the incidence of long A&E waits and end corridor care, with specific deadlines and milestones.  

• Give explicit accountability for reducing long A&E waits and ending corridor care to a Minister in the Department of Health and Social Care, requiring them to report on progress to Parliament every six months.  

Finally, we strongly recommend that the term 'bed blockers' is consigned to the past because it is victim-blaming and ageist. As this report shows, the problem is with the system not the person. 

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK, said:  “Policy makers have stopped talking about delayed discharges, but they are high and rising – truly a crisis hiding in plain sight.  They do enormous harm to older people and cost the NHS and the taxpayer an absolute fortune. What’s more, we will never end the horror of corridor care at the front door of hospitals, for as long as we fail to get a grip on the problem of delayed discharges at the back door.” 

“The good news is that it’s a problem we can solve, with political will, the right policy responses and by applying the lessons from those hospitals that have made progress in tackling delays. Above all we must agree a new approach that ends the squabbles between councils and the NHS about who pays for an older person’s support when they are fit to go home from hospital; increase the overall number of hospital beds; and build up capacity in the community to take these older people back and help them to make a good recovery, in part by making much greater use of voluntary sector effort, such as that we offer Age UK.  

“Ultimately of course, we also need to reform social care so there are more and better services available to reduce the risks of older people needing to go to hospital in the first place, and to give them the support they need to get well again, when a hospital stay is unavoidable and they are well enough to leave.”  

“Our report shows how terrible the impact on older people is when they are medically fit for discharge, but the arrangements cannot be put in place quickly enough or at all to allow this to happen. They are the victims in these situations, and that’s why we feel very strongly that the term ‘bed blockers’, which contains more than a tinge of ageism, should never be used again.” 

What older people have told us   

• “When I was ready for discharge, there was no doctor available in the whole hospital to sign off and prescribe medication to go home with, this meant an extra night in hospital, not just for me but also six other patients on the ward.” 
• “She was delayed for a few days in hospital because they couldn’t set up home care. We had asked to be informed when she was going to be released. That didn’t happen. A neighbour, on the way to bed noticed a light on in the house. She and her husband went to investigate. Found her laying on her stone kitchen floor. She died from hyperthermia three days later in hospital. She never regained consciousness.” 
• “My father was due to leave hospital and had been allocated a rehabilitation slot nearby. But because he was on dialysis and his stay in hospital had been weeks, his dialysis slot in the community had been given to someone else. So, Dad could not leave hospital as there were no slots locally. We were not informed that he had lost his slot. My father ended up dying a horrible death in hospital with no dignity or compassion for him or his family.” 

Notes to editors 

All stats are from the new Age UK report ‘The Longest Wait to Leave’ on delayed discharges.  

Age UK Bolton: Preventing Admissions, Supporting Discharge and Enabling Recovery  

Age UK Bolton's Home from Hospital service provides integrated admission avoidance, discharge and aftercare support, helping older people remain safe, independent and connected to their communities. Working alongside Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, Northwest Ambulance Service, Bolton Council and community partners, the service supports people before, during and after a hospital admission, preventing avoidable admissions, enabling safe discharge and supporting recovery at home.  

 By addressing practical, emotional and social challenges such as reduced mobility, loneliness, confidence, housing, transport and access to support, the service helps older people regain independence while reducing pressure on health and care services.  

 2025/26 Impact   

• 2,493 older people supported through the Admission Avoidance pathway  

• 2,524 older people supported through the Discharge & Aftercare pathway  

• More than 25,000 support contacts delivered across both services  

• Admission and readmission rates remained consistently below 1%, significantly lower than the Bolton benchmark of 8.4%, helping to avoid unnecessary hospital activity and associated NHS costs  

• 100% of clients said they would recommend the service  

Case Study – Rebuilding Confidence After a Fall  

Following a fall and subsequent hospital admission, B, an 88-year-old widow living alone, returned home feeling anxious, isolated and lacking confidence. Reduced mobility and fear of falling again meant she was struggling to leave the house independently and was at risk of further deterioration and potential readmission.  

Age UK Bolton provided practical and emotional support during the critical weeks following discharge. This included welfare visits, escorted shopping trips to rebuild confidence, installation of a key safe to improve safety and access, and support from the Information & Advice team to maximise income through a benefits check.  

As B's confidence grew, she gradually began leaving the house again, re-established her daily routines and became less isolated. The support enabled her to recover safely at home, maintain her independence and avoid further crisis during a particularly vulnerable period.  

"The contact and knowing I'd get help made me feel safe." 

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

All stats are from the new Age UK report – ‘The longest Wait to Leave’

References:

[i] Age UK (2026), The Longest Wait to Leave. Analysis of NHS England discharge delay data shows that on a typical day around 13,000 people are medically fit for discharge but remain in hospital, with the figure having increased by around 70% since 2021. 

[ii] Age UK (2026), The Longest Wait to Leave. In 2025/26, 6,755,325 bed days were lost to discharge delays of seven days or more. 

[iii] Age UK (2026), The Longest Wait to Leave. Estimates based on May 2026 data indicate delayed discharges cost the NHS approximately £231 million in a single month and an estimated £2.66 billion across 2025/26. 

[iv] Age UK analysis of NHS England (2026). Acute discharge situation report shows that more than half (57%) of people that could be discharged on a typical day are still stuck in hospital.   

[v] Age UK (2026), The Longest Wait to Leave. Analysis of NHS England discharge delay data shows that on a typical day around 13,000 people are medically fit for discharge but remain in hospital, with the figure having increased by around 70% since 2021. 

[vi] Age UK (2026), The Longest Wait to Leave’

[vii] Age UK (2026), ‘The longest Wait to Leave’

[viii] Age UK (2026), The Longest Wait to Leave. Estimates based on May 2026 data indicate delayed discharges cost the NHS approximately £231 million in a single month and an estimated £2.66 billion across 2025/26. 

[ix] NHS England bed occupancy data analysed by Age UK (2026), The Longest Wait to Leave. Average adult general and acute bed occupancy was 94.5% in 2025/26, above the commonly cited safe operating threshold of 85%. 

[x] Royal College of Emergency Medicine (2022), RCEM Acute Insight Series: Beds in the NHS. 

[xi] Age UK (2026), The Longest Wait to Leave. Analysis shows more than one in seven NHS hospital bed days (14.48%) were occupied by people medically fit for discharge. 

[xii] Age UK (2026), The Longest Wait to Leave, building on analysis first published in The Longest Wait (2025). Corridor-care incidents reached 570,957 in 2025/26, compared with 123 incidents in 2011/12. 

[xiii] Royal College of Emergency Medicine (2022), RCEM Acute Insight Series: Beds in the NHS 

[xiv] Age UK (2026), The Longest Wait to Leave. In May 2026, 32 NHS Trusts accounted for half of all delayed discharges, with 206,000 bed days lost and an estimated cost of £116 million. 

[xv] Age UK (2026), The Longest Wait to Leave. Regional analysis found a nearly 20 percentage point difference between the NHS region with the lowest proportion of delayed discharges and the highest (44% versus 63%). The East of England was the only region where more than half of people medically fit for discharge left hospital on a typical day (56%).