THE NHS spent £102 million on mental health patients left stuck in hospital beds due to a lack of appropriate housing in 2024/25, experts revealed today.

Thousands of patients who are clinically ready to leave hospital remain in inpatient settings because there is nowhere suitable for them to go, a report by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Look Ahead and the National Housing Federation said. 

Patients waiting for supported housing accounted 23 per cent of all mental health delayed discharge days in February, it found.

Putting people in “inappropriate or unstable” housing can trigger “relapse and readmission in a damaging and costly ‘revolving door’ cycle,” the authors warned.

Forcing patients to stay in hospital when they no longer need to be there comes at a “huge cost to both individuals and the NHS,” they added.

Chris Hampson, chief executive at Look Ahead, which delivers mental health hospital discharge services across London and south-east England, said: “Supported housing must be recognised and funded as core mental health infrastructure, not as an optional add-on.”

Disabled People Against Cuts co-founder Linda Burnip said: “This is yet another aspect on a massive shortage of accessible and affordable housing that disabled people face. 

“For people under 35 in particular the limiting of housing costs to a shared house rate brought in by the Tories makes finding suitable housing for people recovering or being treated for a mental health condition especially difficult.”

A government spokesperson said: “Nobody should be forced to stay in hospital simply because there is nowhere suitable for them to live.”