HUNDREDS of children are in hospital unnecessarily on any given day because they do not have the right support to go home, a report revealed today.

More than 260,000 youngsters spent three or more weeks of their childhood in hospital and 1,300 were there for more than a year, the Children’s Commissioner’s report found.

Medical advancements have meant more children with complex conditions can live longer, but community services have not kept pace.

Dame Rachel de Souza called it a “hidden crisis” as the NHS does not consistently record how many youngsters are medically fit to leave hospital.

She said: “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.”

The government said it is investing £560 million to reform children’s social care and expand and refurbish children’s homes across the country.

Together for Short Lives chief executive Nick Carroll said the findings are “due to workforce shortages, fragile funding and ministers not holding local NHS bodies to account.”