“It’s just this awful feeling of being imprisoned,” said 96-year-old Lily, who was stuck in hospital for nearly a year while waiting for care support to become available. She is just one of thousands of people in the UK who have been stuck in hospitals or at home due to long waits for care assessments. Lily was delayed in being discharged despite her being “medically fit”, and because her council had difficulty finding carers to support her at home. The BBC has found 23% of councils in the UK who provided data had average delays of over a month for care assessments, with some people waiting years for care. The Local Government Association (LGA) said the figures showed a “chronically underfunded system and the pressures councils continue to face”. The UK government said waiting lists were down but there was “more to do”.