A million patients ejected from hospital in middle of the night

By: Times

Almost a million hospital patients have been sent home in the middle of the night despite warnings that the practice is “unacceptable and dangerous” for the elderly.

In the four years since The Times exposed the scale of overnight discharges the number ejected from wards between 11pm and 6am has risen from 220,000 to 250,000 a year, in defiance of warnings from NHS leaders.

Dementia patients are among those sent home — sometimes to cold and empty homes without the correct care or medication — as an elderly care crisis fills growing numbers of beds.