bed blocker

bed blocker

A derogatory term for a person in a hospital, typically an older patient, who is unable to live alone but no longer needs hospital treatment, thus occupying a bed that more needy patients might otherwise use. Primarily heard in UK. The nursing staff is starting to gripe about all the bed blockers.
See also: bed
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • in the hospital
  • in hospital
  • foundry
  • nut factory
  • nut-foundry
  • nuthatch
  • nuthouse
  • rush to the hospital
  • nuttery
References in periodicals archive
This is why I always smile when I hear youngsters talking about their world, their planet, their future - as if you reach a certain age and suddenly have no interest in anything other than being a drain on the National Health Service and a potential hospital bed blocker.
Screen queens
She added: "I hate the term bed blocker, but that's what I was.
'Being homeless was such a worry I almost forgot I had cancer'
NHS hit with [pounds sterling]250k bill for 55st bed blocker - who is fit enough to leave
NHS has given obese children hip and knee replacements on their own dime; EXCLUSIVE: The Royal College of Physicians have called for a ban on junk food ads before the watershed, and regular school weigh-ins
DELAYED discharge patients are taking up 430 beds in Dublin hospitals, forcing the bed blocker issue to crisis point.
UnFair care Deal fuels bed blocks
Terms such as "old dear" and "bed blocker" must become as unacceptable as sexist or racist expressions, the report's authors said.
PATRONISING language used by hospital [...]
But behind every bed blocker is a human being - a mother or father or grandparent; a person who might have fought in world wars; raised kids; probably lived their life with a work ethic that has since well and truly disap-peared from our society.
Time to ban degrading term 'bed blockers'
The "bed blocker" problem common to many hospital systems appears to have been largely alleviated in British Columbia over the decade 1985-95.
The Quick and the Dead: "Managing" Inpatient Care in British Columbia Hospitals, 1969-1995/96
Mrs Wiseman will no doubt become a bed blocker in the not-too-distant future, yet if she had a home carer she in the first place would never have been in such a condition to warrant a hospital admission.
Help for carers makes sense
"It's a problem that been with us for decades and my experience in hospital in recent years was that there was nearly always a bed blocker in a bay of six beds."
PS243k bed blocking farce; HHOOSSPPIITTAALL DDEELLAAYYSS CCOOSSTT TTAAXXPPAAYYEERRSS TTHHOOUUSSAANNDDSS Glan Clwyd 40 times worse at clearing wards than Maelor
That 'bed blocker' in ward six or 'the stroke' in bay 12 - language that again is being banned in order to improve standards - aren't animals.
Compassion should be at heart of NHS
His enforced stay in hospital was 10 times longer than the average bed blocker's hospital stay of 90 days.
Bed-blocker cost NHS pounds 130,000
Figures out yesterday showed "bed blocker" numbers fell from 3021 in September to 2844 in January.
NHS 'bed blockers' down 177
No one becomes a bed blocker voluntarily and I would have hoped the Echo should have a deeper understanding of the situation.
ViewpointsDon't blame older victims
And it could also tackle the problem of 'bed blockers', whereby people face delays to their hospital discharge because they haven't got a suitable home to return to.
New policy could ease strain on hospitals