British Medical Association call for action on "bed blocking"

The number of days patients are spending in hospitals due to so-called “bed blocking” is at its second-highest figure on record.

New data for England has revealed that people occupying beds when they no longer needed care took up a total of 171,298 days in June. It marks a considerable rise of more than 30,000 days on June 2015, during which 139,538 days were taken up by the delays. But NHS England said that, although the figure was still “significant”, it had decreased on the previous month, when it hit a record high.

Related: NHS hospitals face record levels of ‘bed blocking’

Bed blocking occurs when someone is medically fit to be discharged, but care has not yet been organised to help them outside of hospital. The British Medical Association said that the issue – which largely affects the elderly – urgently needs addressing.

Council chairman Dr Mark Porter said: “Problems at the hospital front door are linked to delays at the back door. This is because a shortage of social care beds creates ‘exit block’ in hospitals, meaning patients who no longer need to be in hospital can’t be discharged because there is simply nowhere for them to go.

“This, together with a shortage of beds and a shortage of doctors, leads to delays in admissions and patients being forced to wait on trolleys or admitted to an inappropriate ward.”

More than half (59%) of delays were due to the NHS, while the social care sector were responsible for 32% of the delays. Both were responsible for 7.9%, the report said.

An NHS England spokesman said: “Thanks to tremendous efforts by the NHS and social care, the number of delayed transfers of care stopped increasing in June, although there were still a significant number of patients waiting for discharge from hospital.

Related: Delays in discharging older patients from hospital ‘cost NHS £820m a year’

“It’s important patients who are well enough to leave hospital can do so at the earliest opportunity, and in some parts of the country the system is working well. These figures underline the importance of joined-up care within the NHS and the dependence of hospitals on well-functioning social care services – particularly for older people living at home.”

Figures also show that major hospitals in England are failing to see almost one in seven patients within four hours, as medics warn that emergency staffing has reached crisis levels.

New statistics for June reveal that nearly 15% of people in larger A&E departments and almost 10% of people in all hospitals are not discharged within what is considered the expected time. The target of seeing 95% of patients within four hours has not been hit by an A&E at any major hospital since July 2013.

It comes the day after the Royal College of Emergency Medicine warned that a gap between supply and demand for emergency doctors is leading to a “real crisis”.

NHS England defended the figures, saying they showed “another improvement in performance” at a time when “frontline services continue to come under intense pressure”.

Related: Scottish hospitals miss key A&E waiting times and bed blocking targets

But a number of other key targets were also missed by the health service – including on ambulance response times and cancer waiting times. Hospitals across the country have been blighted by disrupted services in the wake of funding cuts. A national shortage of emergency doctors also led the Grantham and District Hospital in the East Midlands to announce it was to temporarily close its doors at night.

St Helens Clinical Commissioning Group caused outcry after suggesting financial demands could lead it to ban all non-vital operations for four months.

The Department of Health said that despite shortages in specific A&Es, there were 1,250 extra doctors working in emergency departments compared with 2010. A spokesman said: “The NHS had its busiest June ever but hospitals are performing well, with nine out of 10 people seen in A&E within four hours – almost 60,000 people per day seen within the standard.”

British Medical Association call for action on "bed blocking"