Yousaf: We are pondering ‘other approaches’ to help NHS over delayed discharges

First Minister Humza Yousaf has revealed he and Health Secretary Michael Matheson are considering “other approaches” to try to reduce the amount of time patients spend unnecessarily in hospital.

With recent figures showing less than seven out of 10 of patients in accident and emergency are seen within the Scottish Government’s four-hour target time, Mr Yousaf identified tackling delayed discharge as being key.

Difficulties occur when patients who are medically well enough to leave hospital have to remain there, either waiting for a place in a care home or for a package of social care to be put in place – with this often making it hard for hospitals to find a bed for A&E patients who need to be admitted.

Public Health Scotland figures for the weeks ending July 2, July 9 and July 16 have all shown fewer than 70% of patients in A&E being dealt with within the target time of four hours – well below the Scottish Government target of having 95% of patients admitted, transferred or discharged within this time.

Opposition politicians claimed this showed Mr Matheson was “making no noticeable difference” to the “utterly unacceptable” waiting times.

But Mr Yousaf, who was health secretary before becoming First Minister, said he and Mr Matheson were trying to tackle the problem “ahead of what will be a challenging winter”.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Mr Yousaf said: “We’re looking to see what more approaches we can bring, particularly to the area of delayed discharge.

“That has been a significant issue, a significant issue for many years but particularly exacerbated during the course of the pandemic.

“So Michael Matheson and I are talking about what other approaches we might have to take, alongside our partners, because we need to drive down the number of delayed discharges, improve A&E performances ahead of what will be a challenging winter no doubt.”

Delayed discharge levels reached a new record high in 2022-23, with official figures showing patients who were medically well enough to leave spent a total of 661,705 days in hospital in Scotland last year.

Deputy First Minister Shona Robison had pledged to eradicate the problem – also known as bed-blocking – back in 2015 when she was health secretary.