People are being trapped in the region's hospitals due to a lack of cash and staff in Suffolk care homes, a top care boss has said.
An investigation conducted by The Guardian found an acute lack of social care in England has resulted in up to one in three hospital beds being occuped by patients fit for discharge.
NHS data shows just 43% of patients in the East of England were discharged when ready in October.
Prima Fairburn-Dorai, who chairs the Suffolk Association of Independent Care Providers (SAICP), says the challenging circumstances can be attributed to long waiting lists caused by both a lack of funding and staff in the sector.
"A lot of people in hospital want to go home but they can't," she said.
"This 'bed-blocking' is the result of long waiting lists which are being caused a number of issues in the sector.
"The primary issue is funding. A number of care homes don't have the money to be paying staff what they deserve.
"This means the sector is struggling to both attract and retain vital staff to cope with the demand.
"It's not even winter yet and staff are already being overworked.
"A lot of this is down to the government who, despite all the evidence, haven't done anything to help the situation.
"If these issues could be addressed, the social care sector would be in a far better position."
Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, recently told The Daily Mail that hospitals are like “lobster traps” as they are easy to get into but hard to get out of.
He added: “If social care was able to do its job in the way we want it to, these poor people wouldn’t be stranded in hospital."
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which is responsible for Ipswich and Colchester Hospitals, declined to share how many people currently in beds were ready for discharge.
However, the Trust's chief executive, Nick Hulme, said: “As with all Trusts up and down the country, we do have some patients who are medically fit but who cannot be discharged for complex and varied reasons.
“No two people’s circumstances are the same, but all our teams do their best and work together to get patients in our hospitals home, or to a place of care, as quickly and safely as possible.”
West Suffolk Hospital Trust was contacted for comment.
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