On an average day, around one in ten hospital beds in England are occupied by someone medically fit to leave, but unable to do so because the care they need at home is not available. At an estimated cost of £562 per hospital bed per day, this costs £2.7 billion a year.
Pressure is also building at the front door of hospitals: ambulance queues, ever-longer waits in accident and emergency departments, and patients treated on trolleys in corridors. One reason is that an estimated 3.5 million people in England are not receiving adequate care at home. Without it, they are more likely to fall, become malnourished or dehydrated, develop infections or pressure sores, and ultimately require hospital admission.
