“Less than two weeks to save Christmas” - Lib Dems call for new winter discharge unit as figures reveal patients wait 268 days to leave hospital

EMBARGO: 0600 Monday 15th December 2025

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a new dedicated winter discharge unit to stop thousands of patients being trapped unnecessarily in hospital over the festive period amidst a perfect storm of doctors strikes and winter pressures.

The unit would use a new £90m fund to deliver a surge of locum doctors during discharge bottlenecks to free up doctors on shift, backed by 24/7 patient transport, and 5,000 emergency social and home care packages a week over the Christmas period.

It comes as a Freedom of Information request by the party reveals the scale of the crisis in our NHS and social care which is leaving patients waiting hundreds of days to be discharged.

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust admitted that their longest delay for a patient to be discharged last year was 268 days, which is almost 9 months. Surrey and Sussex Health Care NHS Trust had similarly eye-watering waits, with their longest hospital discharge hitting 196 days, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust left a patient waiting to be discharged for 193 days, or over 6 months.

Warrington & Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS foundation trusts reported their longest waits of 162 days, whilst Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust revealed their longest day was 154 days. This is the equivalent of over 5 months.

In December 2024, even without strikes or record levels of flu, 20,000 people had a delay being discharged of longer than four days, with 2,553 facing delays of over 21 days. The cost of delayed discharge has been estimated by the Kings Fund at £395 per bed, per night. Last December, more than 10,000 patients a day remained in hospital who were no longer meeting the criteria to stay, suggesting a cost to the NHS in excess of £122m.

NHS bosses have warned that the strikes, which will take place from the 17th to the 22nd of December, will be particularly disruptive, falling just before Christmas, and emphasised the importance of sufficient staffing to get people discharged to see their families.

Liberal Democrat Care and Carers Spokesperson Alison Bennett said:

“This winter, thousands of families face the heartbreaking prospect of their loved ones being trapped in hospital. And thanks to a perfect storm of strikes and chaos in the face of winter pressures, many more patients will spend Christmas in the hospital this year.

“Liberal Democrats are putting forward a bold plan to ensure thousands more patients get home for Christmas. Through round the clock transport, extra social care places and funding for extra locum shifts when they are most needed the government can and must get them home.

“Time is ticking - the Government has less than two weeks to save Christmas for families up and down the country.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor

The FOI data can be found here.

NHS bosses warning on the impact of strikes was reported here.

December 2024 figures can be found here

Kings Fund analysis here

The social care places are equivalent to all the people who had to stay more than 3 days longer than they should have done in 2024 (around 20,000).