°Ù´ºÁ´

23rd March 2026: A new report by the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has shown that children are spending tens of thousands of days in hospital because the support they need to be discharged is not available. This has a knock-on effect on children due to be admitted, who are left waiting for beds.

Dame Rachel’s analysis of data from NHS England shows that:

‘…almost 70,000 children spent more than two months or more in hospital over the course of their childhood â€“ 1,300 of whom were there for more than a year. In total, more than 260,000 children spent three or more weeks in hospital during their childhoods â€“ and on any given day, there are hundreds in hospital who do not need to be there.’

The report shows that while many children with complex needs or life-limiting conditions are living longer thanks to medical advancements, the support systems needed to allow them to live in the community – such as social care, housing, education and home nursing – have not kept pace. Children are often therefore left waiting on hospital wards for long periods while the support they need is arranged.

According to the report more than 14,000 children have spent more than 10 percent of their lives in hospital, with over 400 having spent over half their lives there. Children from ethnic minorities and/or deprived backgrounds were more likely to spend prolonged periods in hospital care.

Dr David Vickers, Chair of the British Association for Community Child Health (°Ù´ºÁ´), said, ‘This report makes sad reading. It cannot be right for children to be in hospital for longer than medically necessary. The commissioner highlights the lack of resources in community services and the hospice sector as one of the problems. °Ù´ºÁ´ as the voice of community paediatricians calls on the government to ensure that children can be discharged to their homes secure in the knowledge there are effective and adequately resourced community health services to support them.’