THREE-QUARTERS of patients deemed fit to leave the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay failed to be discharged on one day last week, figures reveal.

Charity the Health Foundation said hospital discharge delays impact the entire health and social care system, while reducing the NHS’s capacity to tackle the huge backlog caused by the pandemic.

Patients should leave hospital on the same day they are assessed as fit for discharge, NHS guidance states.

NHS England data shows 118 patients at University Hospitals Of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust were eligible for discharge on December 12 – the latest available data.

However, only 31 left hospital that day, meaning 87 (74 per cent) continued to occupy a bed.

The figures include 29 patients deemed fit to leave who had been in hospital for at least three weeks on December 12 – of whom only one was discharged that day.

The proportion of people remaining in hospital beds at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay on December 12 was higher than on the same day the previous week, when 70% of patients failed to be discharged.

Across England, around 11,000 patients – 69 per cent of those ready for discharge on December 12 – continued to occupy a hospital bed.