Work in progress – Hospital Discharges

Once a patient is considered medically fit to leave hospital, timely discharge is vital – both for the patient and for flow through the system. A hospital discharge is categorised as ‘complex’ if it requires significant home-based or community-based services to be arranged before it can take place. Non-complex cases are classed as ‘simple’ discharges. Simple discharges do not typically require post-discharge arrangements.

Preliminary work indicates that:

• Overcrowding in emergency departments and lengthy ambulance handovers are frequently cited as being a result of delayed discharges resulting in poor patient flow.

• There are particular challenges with ensuring timely hospital discharges for patients with complex support needs, with delays frequently attributed to difficulties in accessing both care/nursing home placements and domiciliary care packages.

The intended scope of our review will include considering:

• Performance against discharge targets.

• The causes of delays, including issues in the care home and domiciliary care sector.

• The impact of delayed hospital discharges.

• Initiatives to improve hospital discharge performance.

We aim to publish in Winter 2026.