Hospital beds are in short supply because some patients cannot be discharged months after they have made a full recovery, health chiefs have warned.

The Bermuda Hospitals Board said that 20 patients had been at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for more than a month but could not be discharged because there were no spaces at nursing homes — putting “increased pressure on capacity” at the facility.

A BHB spokeswoman said that, as of last Friday, 26 patients were still in hospital even though they were medically fit.

The spokeswoman said: “BHB has experienced increased pressure on capacity recently due to people who are medically fit for discharge, but are delayed.

“While 62 per cent of patients are usually discharged within seven days at BHB, when there are barriers to discharge we can see this number escalate.

“Of the 26 patients whose discharge has been delayed, only six have been here less than a month. The rest are over a month, with the longest stay being five months.

“One person in a bed for more than a few days is using an acute care bed that multiple admitted patients could have benefited from over time, so can have a big impact on capacity.

“While BHB continues to work hard to make its internal processes as efficient as possible to improve patient flow, this only impacts the patients whose delays we can control.

“The longer delays relate to organising care at home or needing nursing home placements, which are not factors BHB can impact beyond working in partnership with external providers, organisations and government.

“Our records do not indicate that admissions generally are higher than expected for this time of year. We had until recently seen waits for an inpatient bed going down.

“However, as is experienced by hospitals around the world, we are impacted when there are more patients whose discharge is delayed and we are currently feeling that pressure, as are patients who may be delayed in the emergency department waiting for admission.

“We would remind everyone that additional nursing resources are directed to the Emergency Department when we see an increase in patients waiting for an inpatient bed.

“This is to relieve pressure on Emergency Department staff while ensuring patients are monitored and care continues as they wait for their acute care unit bed.”

Last April, The Royal Gazette revealed that some patients were having to wait more than 24 hours for a bed.

In October, sources told the Gazette that the BHB was receptive to the idea that patients could stay at nursing homes to free up space at the hospital.

The source said: “The chronic shortage of beds in the hospital has been a problem since the construction of the new acute care wing — it’s worse at times than others, but it’s a longstanding issue.

“There is an opportunity to shift some long-term elderly patients to seniors homes and make space.”