(Discontinued) Delayed Transfers of Care

The DTOC metric is no longer being collected and publication has therefore ceased.

We publish discharge information, including the no criteria to reside metric first collected in April 2022, on a monthly basis here:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/discharge-delays-acute-data/

This data at the above link is not comparable with the data published on this page but does offer more recent data on patients and days delayed at provider organisation level.


Background

The Monthly Situation Report collects data on the total delayed days during the month for all patients delayed throughout the month.  Prior to April 2017, it also collected data on the number of patients delayed on the last Thursday of the month.

Data are shown at provider organisation level, from NHS Trusts, NHS Foundation Trusts and Primary Care Trusts.

Data are also shown by Local Authority that is responsible for each patient delayed.

Data is split by the agency responsible for delay (NHS, Social Services or both), type of Care that the patient receives (acute or non-acute) and reason for delay.

Data for this collection is available back to August 2010.

Data

Delayed Transfers of Care 2019-20 Data
Delayed Transfers of Care 2018-19 Data
Delayed Transfers of Care 2017-18 Data
Delayed Transfers of Care 2016-17 Data
Delayed Transfers of Care 2015-16 Data
Delayed Transfers of Care 2014-15 Data
Delayed Transfers of Care 2013-14 Data
Delayed Transfers of Care 2012-13 Data
Delayed Transfers of Care 2011-12 Data
Delayed Transfers of Care 2010-11 Data

As of April 2017, data on the number of patients delayed on the last Thursday of the month is no longer being collected.  This measure has been replaced in the Delayed Transfers of Care publication files by a similar measure now called Average Number of People Delayed per Day (formerly called DTOC Beds). The Average Number of People Delayed per Day figure is calculated by dividing the number of delayed days during the month by the number of calendar days in the month.  This provides a similar figure to the patient snapshot, but is more representative of the entire month rather than providing a view on one particular day.  The time series for patient snapshot data is available for the period August 2010 to March 2017.

Patient Snapshot Time Series August 2010 to March 2017 (Revised 14.09.2017) (XLS, 102KB)

Annual Statistical Report

Annual Statistical Report 2018-19 (PDF, 1MB)
Annual Statistical Report 2017-18 (PDF, 1MB)
Annual Statistical Report 2016-17 (PDF, 3,663KB)
Annual Statistical Report 2015-16 (PDF, 865KB)
Annual Statistical Report 2014-15 (PDF, 1,226KB)
Annual Statistical Report 2013-14 (PDF, 1,301KB)
Annual Statistical Report 2012-13 (PDF, 158KB)

Local Authority ASCOF Performance Indicators 2018-19 (XLS, 133KB)
Local Authority ASCOF Performance Indicators 2017-18 (Revised 13.06.2019) (XLS, 125KB)
Local Authority ASCOF Performance Indicators 2016-17 (Revised 21.06.18) (XLS, 126KB)
Local Authority ASCOF Performance Indicators 2015-16 (Revised 09.06.17) (XLS, 92KB)
Local Authority ASCOF Performance Indicators 2014-15 (Revised 29.09.15) (XLS, 95KB)
Local Authority ASCOF Performance Indicators 2013-14 (Revised 24.10.14) (XLS, 87KB)
Local Authority ASCOF Performance Indicators 2012-13 (Revised 25.10.13) (XLS, 91KB)
Local Authority ASCOF Performance Indicators 2011-12 (XLS, 97KB)

Additional Resources

Link to Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOC) Improvement Tool

This tool has been developed to enable trusts, clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to understand where delayed transfers of care are in their area or system.
DTOC Improvement Tool

‘DTOC ratio’ indicator

This indicator shows delayed days as a proportion of all adult occupied bed days at each NHS Trust, and therefore gives a measure of the level of days relative to the size of the organisation.

DTOC ratio February 2020

Pre-Release Access List

Pre-Release Access List Delayed Transfers of Care (PDF, 77KB)

Guidance

NHS England and NHS Improvement, Department of Health and Social Care, Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, Local Government Association and Emergency Care Intensive Support Team colleagues have been working collaboratively to refresh the Monthly Delayed Transfer of Care (DTOC) Situation Report: Principles, Definitions and Guidance. The work on refreshing the DTOC guidance was identified and commissioned in response to a number of ongoing operational issues and concerns from local health and social care systems.

The refreshed guidance on definitions, counting and reporting is seeking to remove ambiguity and improve operational clarity, with the aim of improving partnership working and reducing disputes.  The guidance now places more emphasis on local collaborative solutions to any barriers first as part of a wider picture of joint and integrated working (which is embedded in the Care Act). The multi-agency group that refreshed the guidance has also pulled together a series of good practice examples from systems from around the country.  All of the products were consulted and tested with a sample of local systems.

The Mental Health Services Data Set (MH SDS) v2.0 has been implemented by NHS Digital and includes Delayed Transfers of Care reporting.  Starting with April 2017’s data (published June 9th, 2017), there will be a period of dual running between the MH SDS and NHS England’s Delayed Transfers of Care (MSitDT) collection, until quality criteria in MH SDS are met.  Until then, the MSitDT collection will remain the source for official statistics for mental health delayed transfers of care.  Further details and a mapping from MH SDS codes to MSitDT codes is provided in the following attachment.  Further information on the MH SDS collection is available here.

Contact Us

For further information about the published statistics, please contact us at:

Performance Analysis Team (PAT) – Central
NHS England and NHS Improvement
Room 5E15
Quarry House
Leeds LS2 7UE
Great Britain
Email: england.nhsdata@nhs.net