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Introduction: The aim of this paper was to analyse patients who were unable to be discharged from a surgical ward despite being surgically fit to leave., Patients and Methods: Data were collected on all surgical in-patients on a single day. Patients who were surgically fit for discharge but whose discharge was delayed were identified. Demographic data and reasons for delay were noted., Results: Nine of 75 patients (12%) were surgical bed blockers. These patients were more likely to have been admitted as emergencies (P = 0.035) and were older (P < 0.01) than the remaining patients. They occupied 35% of the total 'bed-days' of the group as a whole with a median in-patient stay of 41 days compared with 2 days for the other patients. Trust-collected data, based on UK Government guidelines, showed only one surgical delayed discharge patient on the day studied., Conclusions: Due to problems in defining delayed discharge Government figures probably underestimate the true numbers. Lack of intermediate care and social service provision are a major cause of bed blocking.