‘Shocking’ figures show delayed discharge at record levels in 2023-24

Delayed discharge reached its highest level on record last year, “shocking” new figures have shown.

Revised statistics from Public Health Scotland (PHS) showed that in 2023-24, patients who were medically well enough to be sent home spent 666,190 days in hospital.

That total is is the highest annual figure reported since the current guidance came into place in July 2016.

As the figures were published, the Scottish Government faced fresh calls to scrap its plans to set up a National Care Service and instead invest more cash in frontline care.

Labour and the Tories made the plea as Public Health Scotland’s data showed the overall number of days spent in hospital by patients whose discharge had been delayed had risen from 661,705 in 2022-23, and compares to 542,204 in 2019-20 – with last year’s total more than 22% higher than it was then.

The 2023-24 figures showed that on average last year, a total of 1,820 hospital beds were being used every day by people who were waiting to be sent home.

Public Health Scotland added that in the year ending March 31 2024, approximately one in ten (10.8%) bed days in NHS Scotland were occupied by people whose discharge had been delayed.

The problem of delayed discharge – which is also known as bed blocking – occurs when patients who are medically fit to leave hospital have to wait for care arrangements to be put in place.

As the latest statistics were published Conservative health spokesperson Dr Sandesh Gulhane hit out at the Scottish Government and said: “These shocking figures should be a source of shame for the SNP.”

The Tory MSP added: “Shona Robison promised in 2015 that delayed discharge would be eradicated from Scotland’s hospitals, but nearly a decade on, delays have hit appalling new highs.

“The SNP have neglected our health service for almost two decades and it is suffering patients who are paying a heavy price by enduring increasingly longer stays in hospital.”

He accused the Scottish Government of having “squandered almost £30 million worth of taxpayers’ money on a botched National Care Service Bill” with Dr Gulhane insisting: “The SNP should finally accept those plans are dead in the water and support our plans to divert every penny earmarked for it towards local care services.

“Otherwise the number of patients whose discharge is delayed will spiral out of control over winter.”

Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie was also critical of the Scottish Government, saying: “Each of these bed days represents another day in limbo for a patient who is desperate to return home.”

She added: “It’s nearly a decade since the SNP promised to end delayed discharge yet numbers are at a record high.

“Rather than wasting money on a failed National Care Service Bill, the SNP must work with those delivering frontline care to create a genuine safety net for those who are well enough to leave hospital but need help and support at home.”

Meanwhile Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “These record-high figures expose the SNP’s mismanagement of our NHS.

“Far too many are stuck in hospital unnecessarily because they can’t get the care they need at home or in the community.

“These delays are failing patients, contributing to agonising waits in A&E and creating untold pressure right across our NHS.”

The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.