£800m: NHS hospital bill for old folk with nowhere else to go
By The Newsroom
Published 26th May 2016, 00:00 BST
Delays in discharging older patients from hospital when they no longer need care is costing the NHS in England more than £800m a year
Delays in discharging older patients from hospital when they no longer need care is costing the NHS in England more than £800 million a year, a new report has concluded.
The health service is shelling out £820 million every year on so-called bed-blocking - which occurs when patients are medically fit to leave but care has not yet been organised to help them outside of hospital, according to a new report by the National Audit Office (NAO).