Hundreds of patients blocking hospital beds

Hundreds of healthy patients are taking up vital hospital beds long after they should have been sent home, putting extra pressure on the NHS in the West Midlands.

The problem of "bed blocking" is causing hospitals to lose the use of hospital beds for whole days, meaning sick patients could have to wait longer in A&E to be admitted.

The number of days that each bed was unnecessarily occupied by patients well enough to be discharged added up to the equivalent of more then seven years in May this year alone.

The problem can be caused by delays in arranging places for elderly patients in care homes.

In total the Black Country and Staffordshire saw 7.4 years worth of bed days lost in May because of bed blocking. The worst in the area was Sandwell and West Birmingham Trust which had 1,224 days, or 3.3 years lost due to delays.

Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital lost 776 days, or 2.1 years, while troubled Stafford Hospital lost 426 days, equal to 1.1 years. The Dudley Group of Hospitals lost 210 days and Walsall Manor Hospital lost 91 days.