Analysis of delayed discharges, a key part of Rishi Sunak’s pledge to tackle NHS backlogs, found that there were only 40 fewer in March than when the Government announced its funding in November last year.

The data, supplied by Labour, showed that there are a similar number of patients in hospital beds in the region as there were before funding was provided to tackle the problem.

The details of the Government’s initial £500 million delayed discharge fund were announced in November 2022, supplemented by a further £250 million in January 2023 with the stated aim of speeding up hospital discharges.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during a visit to St George's hospital in London. The visit comes following a pay offer from the Government, after a breakthrough in talks to resolve a long-running pay dispute which has seen the NHS in England hit by a series of strikes. Picture date: Thursday March 16, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story INDUSTRY Strikes. Photo credit should read: Toby Melville/PA Wire

Figures show that there were 1,530 delayed discharges in Yorkshire on 17 November, compared to 1,490 on 19 March this year.

The party said that this means 1 in 7 NHS beds in Yorkshire are still taken up by people waiting to be discharged from hospital.

Labour said that its NHS plan would reform services on the principle of “home first”, where more patients would be cared for out of hospital and in their home.

In an interview with The Yorkshire Post, Liz Kendall, the party’s shadow minister for social care, said: “That's a lot of money going on not making a difference.”

“Elderly people don't want to be in hospital when they don't need to be, their families don't want them in there, and the taxpayer sure as hell doesn't want to be spending lots of money on more expensive hospital services if they could be cared for in the community at home,” she added.

Discussing why the money had failed to make a difference, Ms Kendall said that the funding was very “last minute”.

“The money didn't start getting through to the frontline till midway through winter. You can't have a winter plan, where the money doesn't even start coming on board till January,” she said, adding that when she was in government, winter plans for the NHS were sorted by September.

She added that though the money was able to buy up care beds, it did not address staff shortages needed to provide the care for people in the community.

Addressing the problems in the NHS, Ms Kendall said that her parents don't trust ambulance services to turn up if they were to have a fall at home.

“It’s frightening, it really is,” she said.

“My own parents have had a discussion with their friends, about if one of them collapses, who's going to come around and help pick them up, and who's going to drive them to the hospital, because they don't believe the ambulance will be there.

“They've actually got a little plan. Isn’t that awful, to have a plan, because you don't believe [an ambulance will come].”

Patients still stuck in Yorkshire hospitals, Labour analysis suggests