Delayed discharge at highest level since February

The number of people stuck in Scotland’s hospitals despite being ready to leave has reached its highest level since February, figures have shown.

The Scottish Government has been told that delayed discharge is “out of control” as nearly 2,000 patients are unable to go home.

At the July census, 1,948 people were delayed – a rise from 1,857 the month before and the highest level since February when 1,986 people were kept in hospitals.

People are often kept in hospitals despite being clinically ready to leave due to a lack of social care in the community.

The average number of beds occupied per day due to people delayed in hospital in July was 1,928.

Compared to the previous three months, this is more than June (1,860), May (1,852) and April (1,854).

The average length of stay in July was 28 days – the same as June but less than April at 29 days.

Overall, there were 59,764 days spent in hospital by people whose discharge was delayed. This is a decrease of 2% compared with the number of delayed days in July 2024 (61,165).

Scottish Labour said the SNP had “no plan” to fix the problem.

Jackie Baillie, the party’s health spokeswoman, said “Delayed discharge causes misery for patients, costs our NHS billions and piles pressure on overstretched hospitals – but under the SNP it is getting worse instead of better.

“It’s been a decade since the SNP pledged to deal with delayed discharge, but the problem is still out of control.

“The truth is the SNP has no plan for our NHS or our social care system.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “The SNP have ripped up their ten-year old promise that no-one who was fit to leave hospital would be left stuck there.

“By failing to provide the care people need at home or in the community, the SNP are keeping 2,000 patients waiting in hospital beds.

“That creates a shortage of beds for incoming patients and ramps up waits in emergency departments.

“Our health and social care service deserves better than this.”

Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “We have a clear plan to reduce delayed discharge and are investing more than £200 million to tackle waiting list backlogs, improve capacity and remove blockages that are keeping some patients in hospital longer than they need to be.

“While we have seen reductions in delayed discharge in some councils in recent months, we are not seeing this across the whole of the country.

“We are working closely with all health boards and local authorities to drive forward improvements.”