The latest NHS figures show the cost of a bed day has now hit £562, up from an estimated £536 last year and 10% on 2022/23's figure of £512.
Danielle Jefferies, senior analyst at The King's Fund, said: ‘Ultimately, these problems can only be addressed sustainably by reducing incoming demand on hospitals. That means the Government must be much bolder in tackling wider issues like obesity or moving care out of hospitals by effectively implementing greater community care.'
Last year there were nearly 13,000 delayed discharges daily, up 300 on the 2024/25 daily average. This means close to one in 10 of all hospital beds at any given point in time are being taken up by someone who was fit enough to be discharged.
In May, the number of instances of corridor care was close to 70,000.
The Government has pledged to end corridor care by 2029.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘The shocking delays to hospital discharge we inherited have cost patients and the NHS far too much, and instances of corridor care are never acceptable.
‘But we are working to turn this around. Thanks to our record investment, millions more appointments have been delivered, and NHS productivity is rising.
‘We are also joining up NHS and social care through neighbourhood health teams, backing adult social care with over £4.6bn additional funding and making sure more people can get the care they need out of hospital with the biggest investment in hospices in a generation.'
Lee Peart is editor of Hemming Group’s Healthcare Management magazine.
