Bed-blocking has reached record levels as thousands of healthy people fill hospital wards needed for sick patients , official figures reveal . Hospital beds were taken up on more than 1 million days in the last 12 months - a 19 per cent increase on the year before . The problem - which is caused by delayed discharges - is now costing the NHS an estimated £287million a year . In January alone , the latest month for which figures are available , discharges from hospital were delayed for a total 103,776 days , according to NHS England records . Bed-blocking has reached record levels as thousands of healthy people fill hospital wards needed for sick patients . It is the first time the figure has risen over 100,000 since records began in 2010 . A bed in a hospital costs the NHS a basic £275 per day with medicines and other care excluded , according to Department of Health figures . And with each delayed discharge lasting an average 28 days in January , the costs quickly mount up . Successive governments have failed to deal with the problem of bed-blocking . But with numbers of bed days lost to the issue having nearly doubled from 55,000 a month in August 2010 to more than 103,000 in January 2015 , critics have accused the Coalition of losing grip of the issue . Healthy patients are usually kept in hospital because they have nowhere else to go . At Addenbrooke 's Hospital in Cambridge 18 per cent of acute inpatient beds were occupied last November by people whose discharge had been delayed . This is often because councils do not have a space in a care home to take them to , or because a care package has not yet been set up in their own home . Labour yesterday blamed the escalation of the problem on cuts to social care budgets , which have been reduced by £3.5billion since 2010 . A leading doctor recently warned that the lack of available council care risked bringing the NHS 'to its knees ' . At Addenbrooke 's Hospital in Cambridge 18 per cent of acute inpatient beds were occupied last November by people whose discharge had been delayed . Dr Susan Robinson , an A & E consultant at the hospital , said in November : 'If we ' re crowded it 's because the hospital 's crowded , and the hospital 's crowded because they ca n't get patients out . 'The crowded hospital is almost bringing us to our knees . ' NHS England statistics show that from February 2014 to January 2015 1,042,434 bed days were lost due to patients being unable to be discharged . For the same period last year 873,415 days were lost . King 's Fund chief executive Chris Ham told the Independent on Sunday : 'Many delayed transfers of care are caused by problems accessing other parts of the NHS , such as community and mental health services , while increasing pressures on social care are also a factor . 'The solution must be sought in better co-ordination and adequate funding both for the NHS and social care . ' Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham said : 'Back in 2010 I said it would be irresponsible to safeguard the NHS budget if the way you pay for it is by raiding social care . This Parliament has borne that out completely . Care costs are the root cause of the A & E crisis . 'In their Budget assessment the Office for Budget Responsibility said there would be a 'rollercoaster ' in 2016-17 and 2017-18 – far deeper cuts than we have seen in this parliament . ' The Department of Health said that although delayed transfers have risen , hospital admissions have risen faster . A spokesman said : 'In fact , proportionally fewer patients are being delayed in hospital as the NHS helps record numbers of patients . 'We 've given a record £700million this winter for thousands more NHS staff and beds , alongside £37m for local authorities to help more people go home from hospital promptly . 'We 're also bringing health and social care services together for the first time next month to further reduce A & E admissions and get people out of hospital more quickly . '
Hospital beds were taken up on more than 1 million days in past 12 months . This is 19 % increase on last year meaning bed-blocking has hit record high . Comment: Problem is now costing the NHS an estimated £287million a year .