LESS than two-thirds of patients deemed well enough to be sent home from Barnsley Hospital are actually discharged, new figures show.

NHS England figures show an average of 123 patients at the hospital were considered well enough to be discharged each day in the week to January 19.

However, only 62 per cent of them were actually discharged, meaning an average of 47 adult hospital beds remained taken each day by medically fit patients.

This was down from a daily average of 48 the previous week, but up from 32 the month before.

Delayed discharges occur when social care, support or accommodation is not yet in place yet for patients to be transferred into the community.

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients’ Association, said the rise in delayed discharges is ‘worsening pressures on emergency care’ and called on the NHS and government to intervene.

Ms Power said: “This must be urgently addressed - the bottleneck, driven by insufficient social care capacity and bed shortages, is not just a problem for hospitals but for the entire NHS, limiting the ability to admit new patients and worsening pressures on emergency care.

“Without urgent intervention, we risk prolonging the cycle of crisis across our health and care system.”

Rory Deighton, acute director at the NHS Confederation, said the NHS ‘is in a state of vulnerability’.

He added: “When this happens, bottlenecks can occur with patients queuing up at the front doors of hospitals while others are unable to be discharged out the back doors of hospitals.

“NHS leaders and their teams have been kept with their noses pressed to the grindstone as they deliver vital care and support to patients deep into winter.

“But it’s clear as day that the NHS remains under considerable strain with the ripple effect of pressures from winter viruses still being felt across all parts of the system, including primary care.”