Record number of NHS mental health patients kept in hospitals longer than necessary

‘Delays to discharge are often caused by a lack of social care and local authority provision in the community,’ says Dr Lade Smith of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Photograph: kieferpix/Getty Images/iStockphoto

The number of patients stuck in NHS mental health units in England despite being clinically ready to leave has reached its highest level in at least eight years.

“Delayed discharges” of patients from hospitals in NHS mental health trusts reached 49,677 days in March, according to an analysis – a higher figure than in any month since at least January 2016, when NHS Digital started publishing the data.