Hillingdon Hospital has achieved a significant reduction in delays for patients who are medically fit for discharge but are awaiting transfer to other care settings, with a 34% decrease in 'No Criteria to Reside' (NC2R) delays. This places Hillingdon significantly ahead of both North West London (NWL) and London averages for such delays.
This improvement was highlighted in a report presented to the Health and Social Care Select Committee on Thursday, March 26, 2026. The data indicates that fewer than 4% of Hillingdon Hospital beds are now occupied by patients who no longer require acute hospital care, a stark contrast to the NWL average of 14% and the London average of 12%.
The reduction in NC2R delays is attributed to improvements in discharge processes and strengthened oversight from senior cross-partner leadership. Efforts are also underway to reduce the time from a patient being medically optimised to their discharge for Hillingdon residents, with a target to shorten this from ten to seven days.
Hillingdon Health and Care Partners (HHCP) reported that this progress has contributed to a reduction in emergency demand and improved Emergency Department waiting times. Hillingdon was the only London borough to see a decrease in emergency demand between June and December 2025.
However, concerns have been raised regarding the sustainability of these improvements. The split of P2 patients (those waiting for rehabilitation or non-acute beds) from Hillingdon and other boroughs has become 50/50, and Hillingdon has limited control over discharges from other boroughs. Winter pressures have also created a fragile situation. One risk identified, which was missing from the original report, relates to embedding these improvements, given that some of the drivers were territorial in nature. Further details on health updates can be found in the Health Updates document.
