Pathway of Care Delays by reason for delay and date
The data represent the number of adults occupying an NHS hospital bed, who were 'clinically optimised' ready to return home or move on to the next stage of care, that experienced a delay in their transfer of more than 48 hours beyond the point they were clinically optimised. 'Next stage of care' refers to all destinations outside of NHS hospitals. The figures are a census snapshot of current delays being experienced at the third Wednesday of each month across Wales. They do not reflect the total number of delays that occurred over the month.
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April 2023
Metadata
- High level information
- Summary information
- Weblinks
- Statistical quality information
- Keywords
- Open Data
Title
Pathway of Care DelaysLast update
21/08/2025Next update
18/09/2025Publishing organisation
Welsh GovernmentSource 1
Pathways of Care Delays, NHS Delivery UnitContact email
stats.healthinfo@gov.walesDesignation
Experimental statisticsLowest level of geographical disaggregation
Local authoritiesGeographical coverage
Local health boardsLanguages covered
English and WelshData licensing
You may use and re-use this data free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government License - see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licenceGeneral description
A delayed discharge occurs when a patient who is clinically ready for discharge cannot leave hospital because the necessary ongoing care and support or suitable accommodation for them is not yet accessible.The data represent the number of adults occupying an NHS hospital bed, who were 'clinically optimised' ready to return home or move on to the next stage of care, that experienced a delay in their transfer of more than 48 hours beyond the point they were clinically optimised. 'Next stage of care' refers to all destinations outside of NHS hospitals.
The figures are a census snapshot of current delays being experienced on a specific day in each month across Wales. They do not reflect the total number of delays that occurred over the month.
The data are used to monitor the number of delays, and the reasons for delays, assisting NHS and Local Authority partners to develop regional plans with a focus on outcome based actions to reduce discharge delays across the health system.
Data collection and calculation
Data are provided by Local Health Boards and validated jointly with Local Authority partners.The Pathway of Care Delays is a snapshot census that identifies people with a discharge delay and reason at a given point each month. Health Boards are required to extract the data from local systems on a census day in each month, and validate the delays with Local Authority partners. Subsequently, data records are entered via a web-based tool and submitted to NHS Wales.
Frequency of publication
MonthlyData reference periods
April 2023 onwardsRevisions information
Data are subject to revisionWeblinks
https://www.gov.wales/nhs-activity-and-performance-summaryhttps://www.gov.wales/hospital-discharge-service-requirements-covid-19
Statistical quality
Data are provided by Local Health Boards and validated jointly with Local Authority partners.The Pathway of Care Delays is a snapshot census that identifies people with a discharge delay and reason at a given point each month. Health Boards are required to extract the data from local systems on a census day in each month, and validate the delays with Local Authority partners. Subsequently, data records are entered via a web-based tool and submitted to NHS Wales.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Welsh Government suspended delayed transfers of care (DTOC) reporting requirements, along with many other datasets. The Welsh Government introduced the COVID-19 Discharge Requirements, which included an updated discharge process with increased focus on rehabilitation and reablement to improve patient flow and support better outcomes. From July 2020, delayed discharge data were collected as management information on a weekly basis. These data were not formally validated.
Subsequently a formal replacement, Pathways of Care Delays (POCD) has been developed and tested to replace DTOC. This system has now been rolled out across all Local Health Boards & Local Authorities and the first fully validated and quality assured data are available from april 2023.
Welsh Government discharge guidance (COVID-19 Discharge Requirements) sets out the default approach to hospital discharges – the Discharge to Recover then Assess (D2RA) pathways (or 'recovery pathways').
The D2RA approach is based on evidence of better outcomes for people who transfer as soon as possible to their usual residence or other suitable care setting for rehabilitation or reablement prior to assessments for longer term care. A D2RA pathway (or recovery pathway) could be in a person’s own home, in a community hospital or in an alternative step-down setting.
