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Age UK's new report, The Longest Wait to Leave: Tackling the delayed discharges that help to drive corridor care, examines delayed hospital discharge and its role in driving corridor care, following the charity's earlier campaign on A&E waits. It highlights that 6.75 million bed days a year, costing £2.66 billion, are occupied by patients medically fit for discharge, causing distress, deconditioning and poorer recovery prospects. This reduces capacity for elective care and worsens A&E waiting times. Older people bear the brunt, accounting for 60% of 12+ hour A&E waits and 85% of delayed discharges.
The report examines causes and impacts, and calls for stronger community capacity to help people get home, recover and stay well, including enabling every older person to be assessed at home within 24 hours of discharge.
