Days lost to bed-blocking — caused when patients who are well have to stay in hospital because of a shortage of suitable care elsewhere — have increased by 80 per cent in five years

More than 6,000 elderly people are trapped needlessly in hospital beds each month as nursing homes, families and social services fail to provide adequate care.

The health service is facing its worst bed-blocking crisis, official figures from NHS England showed yesterday.

Days lost to bed-blocking — caused when patients who are well have to stay in hospital because of a shortage of suitable care elsewhere — have increased by 80 per cent in five years. More than 71,500 patients faced unnecessary delays after treatment last year, resulting in the loss of two million hospital bed days. This compared with 62,900 patients in 2014.

Pressure on frontline services typically eases during the summer but figures for June showed hospitals to be in the grip of a