Hospitals: Delayed Discharges

Lord Storey Excerpts

Monday 9th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

The noble Baroness raises how we assess performance. That is a valid question. This work has been tackled through all the plans for improvement. It is complicated, as she suggests, and covers a range of different areas. I do not think there is one prescriptive model that we need to adhere to. We need to make sure that it is very clear how benefits come to patients, in particular, when we get the systems right. I am happy to discuss this further with her.

[Lord Storey (LD)]

My Lords, bed-blocking—as we refer to it, as opposed to delayed discharges—is a very sensitive issue, for the hospital and the patient. It leads to people waiting in corridors to be treated. Many different ways have been attempted to deal with this: expanding home-based care, utilising spare capacity in care homes, and through adult social care. Talking about adult social care, can the Minister tell us where we are up to on phase 1 of the report by the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, which is meant to be implemented in mid-2026, because that will be a first step towards solving the problem?

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

The noble Lord raises the important point about the Casey review, which is fundamental. As he knows, it is an independent process, so I cannot give him the exact details that he is looking for, but I can assure him that the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, has been meeting with all the relevant people. We assume she is on track to bring forward the medium-term suggestions for improvement that she has promised us this year.