MORE people than ever before are being sent to hospital for treatment but the number of beds has fallen, according to new figures.
The latest NHS statistics show the number of patients admitted to Scottish hospitals has soared by almost 23 per cent in a decade while the number of beds has been cut by seven per cent.
With the length of a typical spell on the wards reducing to four and a half days in the same time frame, Health Secretary Alex Neil said the figures showed "Scotland's NHS is continuing to evolve".
However, in the last two years, many medical bodies have warned that pressure on staff and beds is escalating and bigger changes are required.
The Herald's campaign NHS: Time for Action is calling for a review showing how NHS and social care capacity needs to shift and expand to cope well with the growing elderly population.
Last night, Dr Peter Bennie, chairman of the British Medical Association in Scotland, said: "Our population is growing and it is getting older. More people are living with chronic disease and often have complex care needs. All of this means that there is rising demand for NHS services.
"However at the same time, the NHS budget is falling and we are in the midst of a recruitment crisis in the medical profession. Hard-pressed NHS services in hospitals and communities are running on the goodwill of doctors and staff. This is not a sustainable solution for the NHS in Scotland."
He called for "an honest, public debate" about the future of the NHS.
The number of hospital admissions in Scotland crossed the one million mark for the first time in the financial year 2012-13. The new figures, released by the Information Services Division of the NHS yesterday, showed the rise continued in 2013-14 with the total number of discharges recorded reaching 1,074,000, an increase of five per cent.
Maighread Simpson, principal information analyst with ISD, said patients being transferred between wards were counted in these figures and better logging of hospital transfers was partially responsible for the increase. However, even when transfers are stripped out, the number of patients arriving for planned or emergency treatment is still at record levels.
While the number of hospital beds increased slightly in 2013-14 to 16,315, the figure is down 7.1 per cent from the 17,559 beds available in 2004/05.
More procedures being performed as "day surgery" and more elderly people being cared for in their own homes instead of hospitals are among the innovations behind the bed closures.
However, a leaked document written by NHS finance directors recently warned the service faces a funding gap of £400-450 million during the next two years and suggested a number of government policies conflicted with the need to drive investment into community care.
Theresa Fyffe, director of the Royal College of Nursing Scotland, said: "The Scottish Government needs to look at the whole system of how we provide care to make sure Scotland's health and care systems have the resources and staff within our hospitals and in the community to safely care for patients. It is impossible to continue to provide the same level of care to more and more people with an increasingly complex range of conditions with a budget that is failing to keep up."
Mr Neil said: "While these figures show we have achieved much, they also remind us there is no room for complacency and re-enforce our commitment to support local partnerships to reshape support services and deliver the highest quality of care to our older citizens."
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