{"id":610996,"date":"2026-04-28T09:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T09:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/610996\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T09:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T09:41:11","slug":"nhs-spent-more-than-100m-on-mental-health-patients-forced-to-stay-in-hospital-due-lack-of-proper-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/610996\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS spent more than \u00a3100m on mental health patients forced to stay in hospital due lack of proper housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The NHS<\/a> spent more than \u00a3100 million in one year on mental health<\/a> patients left in hospital beds due to a lack of appropriate housing<\/a>, a new report has found. <\/p>\n

Experts warn that compelling patients to remain in hospital when no longer medically necessary incurs a “huge cost to both individuals and the NHS”.<\/p>\n

According to the report from the Royal College of Psychiatrists<\/a>, Look Ahead, and the National Housing Federation, patients awaiting supported housing accounted for 23 per cent of all mental health delayed discharge days in February 2026. <\/p>\n

These housing-related delays led to 121,695 additional hospital bed days in 2024\/25, costing the NHS approximately \u00a3102 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cThousands of people who are clinically ready to leave hospital remain in inpatient settings because there is nowhere suitable for them to go,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n

And putting people in \u201cinappropriate or unstable\u201d housing can trigger \u201crelapse and readmission in a damaging and costly \u2018revolving door\u2019 cycle,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n

Dr Jon Van Niekerk, chairman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists\u2019 General Adult Faculty, said: \u201cWe are deeply concerned that people with mental illness are being kept in hospital for too long, or discharged into unacceptably poor accommodation, because there isn\u2019t enough supported housing available.<\/p>\n

\"PuttingPutting people in \u201cinappropriate or unstable\u201d housing can trigger \u201crelapse and readmission in a damaging and costly \u2018revolving door\u2019 cycle\u201d, the report said (Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is causing people to relapse and, in some cases, become severely unwell.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is vital that we break this cycle and ensure people have the opportunity to get better within their local community.<\/p>\n

\u201cMental health and supported housing services must be supported to work together more closely to ensure people can leave hospital safely and make a full and stable recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will improve patient outcomes, reduce pressure on hospitals and prove more cost effective in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Hampson, chief executive at Look Ahead, which delivers mental health hospital discharge services across London and the South East, said: \u201cWhen supported housing is available, people recover faster, avoid relapse and don\u2019t cycle back through inpatient care.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when the right housing and support isn\u2019t there, people are left waiting in hospital beds they no longer need, at huge cost to both individuals and the NHS.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupported housing must be recognised and funded as core mental health infrastructure, not as an optional add-on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Health and Social are has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":{"0":"post-610996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}