Number of patients who faced delayed discharge rose in September

Delayed discharges continue to burden Scottish hospitals, with the latest monthly figures showing a slight increase.

Public Health Scotland data for delayed discharges – also known as bed blocking – shows 1,835 people were in hospital longer than they needed to be at the September census point.

That was a slight increase from the 1,808 people who had their discharge delayed in August 2023, and higher than the number of people delayed between April to June 2023.

According to the data, the average length of delay in September remained at 28 days from the month prior, however it was higher than the figures from April to July.

However, in September, the average number of beds occupied per day because of delay discharges was 1,811 – less than the peak figures of 1,950 in November 2022 but higher than April and June 2023.

In the latest month, 54,342 days were spent in hospital by people whose discharge had been delayed – lower than the same timeframe of 2022, when 54,960 days were spent in hospital.

Delayed discharges occur when a patient is considered healthy enough to leave hospital, but typically a lack of appropriate social care provision prevents them from doing so.

Dr Sandesh Gulhane, Scottish Tory health spokesman, said: “The SNP’s twin failures to remobilise NHS services following the pandemic and eradicate delayed discharge – as they promised to do in 2015 – is continuing to have a devastating effect on patients and frontline staff.

“That is largely down to successive SNP health secretaries failing to ensure social care packages are in place to allow patients who are fit to be discharged to leave hospital. These delays also have a knock-on effect on A&E waiting times.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are working closely with health boards and health and social care partnerships to create the necessary capacity to deal with emerging pressures over winter, and to ensure patients are assessed and discharged with the appropriate care package as quickly as possible.

“Significant additional funding has been allocated to support social care including £124 million to enhance care at home capacity as well as an additional £100 million to uplift adult social care pay up to a minimum rate of £10.90 per hour. This follows previous investment of £344 million to raise pay.

“As the First Minister announced in his Programme for Government, private and voluntary sector staff working in adult social care will receive at least £12 an hour, from April.

“In addition to the £3.6 million provided this year to support growth of hospital at home services for older people, we have also invested additional funds, of up to £12 million, as part of our winter plan to increase capacity.”