The MSM has been all over the mistaken releases of prisoners from UK jails but has failed to point out the irony that it's easier for a criminal to get released from jail than it is for a patient to get discharged from an NHS hospital.

Both the Prison Service and the NHS suffer from the same problems with bed blocking but it seems that the Prison Service is better at alleviating the problem than the NHS.

Waiting for discharge from an NHS ward can take hours, days, weeks or even months.

Part of the problem is that lots of people being discharged need care-at-home packages, which are in short supply due to the lack of social care funding available. 

So unless you can (and want) to pay for your own private care, you have to stay on the ward, blocking the bed for someone who may be more deserving than you.

Perhaps the NHS can learn from the Prison Service here?