bed blocker
An elderly hospitalized person who is too infirm to return home but not sufficiently ill to necessitate continued hospitalization, creating a situation in which his or her hospital stay is prolonged while authorities or relatives search for a suitable placement amid the scarce resources of nursing homes or other long-term care facilities.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“The hospital staff worried that the patient had become a bed blocker.”
“The doctor says the patient is now a bed blocker because no relatives can help.”
“Because the nursing home had no available rooms, the elderly patient remained a bed blocker for several weeks.”
“Social workers are trying to find a care home for the man so he does not remain a bed blocker during the busy winter season.”
“The local government needs more funding for housing to prevent healthy seniors from acting as a bed blocker in emergency wards.”
“The hospital administration struggled to manage the rising number of bed blockers, as the lack of social care facilities prevented timely patient discharges.”
- 01
bed in
To allow or help to settle in; to make (someone) feel at home.
- 02
bed of roses
A pleasant or easy situation; an untroubled existence.
- 03
get out of bed on the wrong side
To start the day in a bad mood for no apparent reason.
- 04
get up on the wrong side of the bed
To feel irritable; to be in a bad mood; to have a bad day from the start, for no particular reason.
- 05
make one's bed and lie in it
To create a difficult situation whose unpleasant consequences one must now endure.
- 06
marriage bed
Sexual activity between a married couple.
- 07
put to bed
To prepare (a newspaper) for printing.
- 08
shit the bed
Of a person or thing, to fail, often in a complete and irreparable fashion.
Last updated August 10, 2026