NHS billions set to be wasted over next five years unless rising '˜bed blocking' toll is tackled

The study, released today by the think tank ResPublica, said delayed transfer in England is a growing problem, and Government efforts have so far failed to tackle it.

It called for greater investment in social care to drive down the number of people relying on the NHS despite being medically fit to be discharged.

In February, a separate study of NHS finances commissioned by the Government found about 8,500 patients fit for discharge are trapped in NHS hospitals every day – potentially costing the health service £900million a year.

It said bed blocking, which occurs when patients are medically fit to leave but care has not yet been organised in the community, is a bigger problem for NHS hospitals than was first thought.

Bed blocking has proven a major issue in Yorkshire hospitals in recent months. The number of bed days wasted through delayed transfers at Yorkshire hospitals surpassed 13,000 last July, while Leeds hospitals recorded 3,000 delayed days in October – the second worst toll in England – before a figures were cut by a third following a winter crackdown.

In the new ResPublica study, experts forecast a 24 per cent rise in the number of delayed transfer of care beds between 2015/16 and 2020/21. The cost to hospitals in 2020/21 will be £763m – 51 per cent higher than in 2015/16.

Caring for bed blocking patients in care homes, rather than in high-cost beds, would cost just £835m over the five-year period.

“This would generate a surplus of £2.4bn currently due to be spent on inappropriate in-hospital care for patients,” it said.

Experts also pointed to the non-financial risks of bed blocking, including increasing risk of infection for patients, emotional poor health and a loss of independence and confidence.

“For older people, a hospital stay is often associated with marked functional decline – an inability to carry out tasks, including self-care, which were previously non-problematic,” it said.

“Lying in a hospital bed typically means a lack of independence, decreased mobility and increased isolation.

“The longer an older person stays in hospital, the higher the risk of functional decline becomes. A delayed discharge can therefore take away day-to-day life as an older person has known it – irreversibly.”

The report said the Better Care Fund, set up by the Government to better integrate health and social care, had so far failed to stem the rise of bed blocking.

MP Sarah Wollaston, chair of the Commons health select committee, said: “This report from ResPublica provides compelling evidence that social care cannot be seen in isolation from the NHS.

“There is an urgent need to improve access to social care and to address the delayed transfers of care and this can no longer be sidelined by policy makers.”

In February, the Government review led by Lord Carter of Coles found an increase in delayed transfers of care to around 5,500 patients per day. But it estimated the problem was actually much bigger, with as many as 8,500 beds being blocked every day.

The ResPublica report comes after a BBC investigation revealed that more than two-thirds of trusts and health boards in the UK are trying to recruit from abroad as they struggle to cope with a shortage of qualified staff. It found tens of thousands of vacant NHS nursing and doctor posts, which unions blamed on poor workforce planning.