INTRODUCTION:
Hospitals play a significant role in public health systems by providing care for acute events of health. However, in Brazil, prolonged hospital stays are frequently observed even after clinical stabilization, driven by social vulnerabilities and insufficient public social protection policies. This situation particularly affects people who acquired disabilities in adulthood after sudden events and upon completing treatment, lack the functional capacity, connections, or support networks to resume daily life autonomously, highlighting tensions between the continuity of health care and the right to life in the community — a central challenge in contemporary public health.

METHODS:
This abstract presents a qualitative analysis based on professional practice of Social Work in a Brazilian university hospital, articulated with a literature review and an analysis of public health and social assistance policy norms in Brazil. The reflection is based on the systematic observation of situations of prolonged hospitalization associated with social and institutional barriers faced mainly by people with disability in socially vulnerable contexts, with an emphasis on the processes of hospital discharge and continuity of care.

RESULTS:
The findings indicate that the focus of public policies, the scarcity of long-term care services, and exclusionary criteria in social assistance services create a care vacuum, keeping people with disability hospitalized due to a lack of adequate alternatives. This undue stay increases risks to individuals and compromises bed management and equitable access to hospital services.

CONCLUSIONS:
Prolonged hospitalization resulting from insufficient social protection policies and care networks in the territory constitutes a form of institutionalization incompatible with the principles of public health. Addressing this problem requires intersectoral policies that articulate all elements of social security. This is a structural and global challenge that demands collective responses committed to the dignity, inclusion, and right to community life of people with disability.