Hospital discharge delays hit their highest level on record in July.
An average of 14,054 patients a day remained in an acute bed at least two weeks after they were declared medically fit to leave, according to the latest NHS England data analysed by HSJ.
That is 12% up on July 2025 and beats the previous high of 13,965, set in January 2023, even though delays normally run lower in summer.
Other NHSE figures show delays are also getting longer. Patients discharged in June waited an average of 0.95 days beyond their discharge ready date, up 19% on a year earlier.
The increased delays were down to steep rises in waits for social or intermediate care. Delays directly related to hospital or other NHS services showed no change.
Much of the growth is the result of cases in which patients’ needs were still being processed or had not been arranged, rather than directly down to a lack of care capacity.
Senior NHS officials are understood to be concerned about the rise in delayed discharges. They are most concerned about the breakdown of agreements on intermediate care provision made between the NHS and councils amid budget strain and restructures. This is resulting increased care home and step-down capacity built up during the winter becoming unavailable, despite ongoing high demand.
Health and social care secretary Yvette Cooper has claimed the discharge system was “all a mess”.
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Source: HSJ, 25 August 2026
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