by Democrat reporter
MSP Jackie Baillie has blasted the Scottish Government after new figures revealed rocketing delayed discharge cases.
Data from Public Health Scotland revealed that cases of patients fit for discharge, but remaining in hospital, are at their second highest point since records began.
The news comes despite the Scottish Government’s repeated pledges to tackle delayed discharge, which impacts on hospital performance.
Clinicians blame delayed discharge cases for piling pressure on the availability of hospital beds and backing up services.
But the issue has particular relevance for patients from Helensburgh and Lomond, as Argyll & Bute Health and Social Care Partnership struggles to balance the books.
A host of patients from the area have been left languishing in hospital after funding for care-at-home services has been cut.
Mr Smith had to be discharged without a home care package in place, following shoulder surgery in February. Clinicians had said he could only be released if care was provided at home, but he was eventually discharged without a package in place because of funding delays.
He finally received a call from the HSCP on March 17th, almost three weeks after discharge.
Ex-nurse Jennifer Schofield has also experienced discharge delays.
The 73-year-old was in the Vale of Leven Hospital, right, for ten weeks.
She even caught Pneumonia in hospital – prompting doctors to prepare her family for the worst.
Jennifer initially spent three weeks being treated in Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital, where she was being prepared for discharge.
The COPD sufferer – who also has Asthma – had been cleared to go home, but doctors advised she needed two carers to attend at her home, four times a day.
Financial challenges facing the HSCP meant the care package could not go ahead, leaving her stuck in hospital.
Despite a hospital bed being provided at home for rehabilitation weeks before, Jennifer was stuck at the Vale of Leven hospital.
She said: “I thought I was getting ready for discharge before I left Paisley and was then in the Vale for ten weeks.
“I caught infections in hospital and was really unwell with Pneumonia.”
Jennifer added: “The funding for the care package was approved, but there was no actual money in the pot to fund it.”
She added: “I am a former nurse, so after spending decades in hospitals, I just wanted to be home.
“If the care package had been in place, I would have been at home; instead I was stuck in hospital, away from my family and friends.”
In the financial year ending March 31st, 705,952 bed days were spent in hospital by patients whose discharge was delayed.
Annual figures show that 412 residents from Argyll and Bute, which includes Helensburgh, were recorded as delayed discharge cases last year, compared with 297 in East Renfrewshire and 227 in East Dunbartonshire.
Some 14,260 bed-days were lost to bed-blocking by patients registered in Argyll and Bute for standard reasons last year, compared with 10, 791 in West Dunbartonshire.
“I am particularly aware of an issue in Argyll & Bute, where provision of care packages is dire, meaning residents are left in hospital longer.
“I have heard from many families desperate to get elderly and vulnerable relatives home, and many patients desperate to leave hospital.
“More than a decade ago the SNP promised to end delayed discharge altogether, but last year was one of the worst on record, and the situation is rapidly worsening due to a funding crisis.
“We cannot fix the crisis in our NHS without tackling delayed discharge – the SNP must start properly supporting social care and deal with this issue at long last.”
Delayed discharge annual summary:
- In the financial year ending 31 March 2026, there were 705,952 days spent in hospital by people whose discharge was delayed. This is 2% less than in 2024/25 (720,119), which was the highest annual figure reported since the current recording guidelines came into place in July 2016. It is an increase on the totals in 2023/24 (666,190) and 2019/20 (542,204), the last financial year before COVID-19 measures were introduced.
- These delays represent an average of 1,934 hospital beds per day used by people delayed in their discharge in 2025/26, a decrease from 1,973 in 2024/25.
- For people who were discharged after a delay, the average time spent in delay in 2025/26 is the same as 2024/25 (10 days); however, this is an increase on 2019/20 (7 days). In 2025/26, the average length of stay before people go into delay (25 days) decreased from 2024/25 (27 days).