By Lucy Ashton
New figures show that in 2022/23 around 1 in 9 bed days were occupied by people whose discharge from hospital was delayed.
With the annual number of days lost to delayed discharge now at a record high, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, right, said: “SNP neglect has pushed our health and social care system beyond boiling point.
“There are gaps everywhere. People waiting for a care home place or to return home are in limbo because they can’t get the care they need in the community.
“Patients and staff cannot wait years for the wrong solution in the form of a ministerial takeover of social care.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats want to see this billion-pound bureaucracy scrapped and for that money to be spent on staff and services instead.”
The Public Health Scotland figures can be found here
In particular, they show that:
- In the financial year 2022/23, there were 661,705 days spent in hospital by people whose discharge was delayed. This is the highest annual figure reported. It is also an increase on the pre-pandemic total of 542,204 in 2019/20, which is the last financial year before COVID-19 measures were introduced.
- During the financial year ending 31st March, approximately 1 in 9 (10.7%) bed days were occupied by people whose discharge was delayed.
In 2015, the SNP government promised to “eradicate delayed discharges from the system” within a year.