Watch: What is bed blocking and how is it impacting the NHS crisis?

England ‘s hospitals are “hideously” busy - but more than one in seven beds are taken up by people who do not need to be there. Up to a third of English hospital beds were taken up by bed blockers who were fit for discharge but stuck waiting on wards last week, as the NHS continues to grapple with overflowing wards and unprecedented pressure on emergency departments. It comes after the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) told MPs the nation’s hospital wards are “hideously” busy due to the low number of beds per head of the population.