Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent estimate he has made of the cost of delayed discharges to the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

The Department has made no formal estimate of the costs of delayed discharge to the National Health Service. It is recognised that such delayed discharges do use resource which could be deployed elsewhere, and all parts of the NHS and those with responsibility outside it, are continually looking for ways in which to reduce the number of delays.