RISING NUMBERS of NHS patients are becoming so fed up with their hospital care that they are discharging themselves against medical advice, new figures show.

Freedom of Information disclosures indicate that last year, 51,000 patients took the decision to leave hospital without being discharged by their doctors.

Experts said patients were taking matters into their own hands after becoming distressed by poor care, bureaucratic delays and enforced stays in hospital because of a lack of social care help.

Figures from 103 of the country’s 160 NHS trusts show that last year 51,624 patients chose to discharge themselves from hospital care, with 49,758 such cases in 2013 – a four per cent increase in one year.

Experts said the rising number of elderly patients stuck in hospital because of a lack of help from social services meant many were getting so fed up they discharged themselves, returning to empty homes and inadequate help.

Latest figures show a steep rise in “bed blocking” in the last year, with a 20 per cent increase in days spent in hospital by patients who should have been discharged.

The sums spent on such care have reached record levels of £287million a year.

Charities said the figures were “the most graphic illustration yet” of the need for more government investment in social care.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said the increase in patients getting so fed up that they discharged themselves was an inevitable consequence of the number of patients forced to endure long stays in hospital, without medical need.

“The statistics paint a picture, as sad as it is alarming, of the hospital experience for thousands of patients and families,” she said.