Hundreds of children are in hospital unnecessarily on any given day because they do not have the right support to go home, according to an analysis of NHS England data.
The discharge delays mean patients affected are missing out on childhood activities and youngsters needing hospital care are waiting for beds, the children’s commissioner’s report found.
More than 260,000 young people spent three or more weeks of their childhood in hospital and 1,300 were there for more than a year.
Medical advancements have meant more patients with complex or life-limiting conditions can live longer but community services such as children’s social care, housing, education and home nursing have not kept pace, it said.
Dame Rachel de Souza, children’s commissioner for England, said in a statement: “For all the debate and attention given to hospitals, waiting times and social care, children are rarely mentioned.
“Childhood is a short and precious time – so when a child spends months or even years confined to a hospital ward, not because they are too unwell to leave but because the right community support cannot be found, the system has failed.”
De Souza said this is partly driven by a “lack of good data”.
The NHS does not consistently record how many youngsters are medically fit to leave hospital but are remaining there as a result of factors external to the health service, the report said.
One hospital that does document that data found 5% of children on its ward in June 2025 were medically able to leave but could not.
The report found that more than 14,000 children have spent more than 10% of their younger years in hospital while more than 400 had spent half their lives there.
Ethnic minorities and children from deprived backgrounds were disproportionately likely to experience prolonged stays in hospital while the lack of beds also affected elective and emergency admissions, the report added.
Multiple factors were found to delay children from leaving facilities including long waits to secure community care packages, often caused by funding disputes between health and social care administrators.
The building of Cambridge children’s hospital is under way and it will be the east of England’s first specialist children’s hospital.
Prof Isobel Heyman, its clinical co-lead for mental health, and Dr Rob Heuschkel, the clinical lead for physical health, said in a joint statement: “[The hospital] will include an embedded research institute focused on early intervention, and a hospital school working with children’s own schools to keep education on track, as well as extending specialist support into communities through stronger links with social care and home nursing.”
