Labour has demanded more action to tackle the hospital beds "crisis" after it emerged more than 1,200 beds a day were unavailable over the winter.

Over a four-week period, it is reported an average of 1,216 beds a day were lost as a result of delayed discharges.

BBC Scotland used Freedom of Information legislation to obtain the data, which showed that in December there were 31,610 patients in hospital who were well enough to go home, but could not because of the lack of care available.

The Scottish Government has recently pledged £100 million to tackle the problem of bed blocking, with Health Secretary Shona Robison making the issue a key priority for the NHS.

But Labour health spokeswoman Jenny Marra said: "This new information shows the extent of the SNP's failure to support our NHS."

She added: "1,216 beds is more than every adult bed at the new Glasgow Southern General, one of the biggest hospitals in Europe. It is also roughly the same amount of beds the SNP have cut from our hospitals since they came into government.

"Earlier this week, Colin Howie, president of the British Orthopaedic Association, said there was a bed crisis in our NHS. It is a crisis of the SNP's own making."

Ms Marra continued: "Since taking over the health brief, SNP minister Shona Robison has repeatedly said that bed blocking would be her key priority - she needs to actually start getting on top of this huge problem.

"Experts are speaking out, A&E is in crisis, thousands of patients are waiting too long and NHS staff are overstretched and under-resourced - when will the SNP Government in Edinburgh wake up to the problems in our hospitals?"

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "While delayed discharge has fallen by two-thirds under this Government, there have been recent increases.

"That is why tackling delayed discharge is an absolute key priority for this Government.

"Reducing delayed discharge is first and foremost good for the patient, who will benefit from being treated at home, or in a homely setting.

"But it also eases pressure across the system, in particular in A&E, by freeing up beds.

"We are bringing together health and social care to ensure the system works as effectively as possible.

"We have committed £100 million over three years in the NHS to help reduce the numbers of people waiting to be discharged from hospital.

"This funding will be used to deliver good quality care in the region and support for people at home or in a homely setting.

"A further £10 million Winter Resilience Fund was made available in December, which is focused on delayed discharge."

A spokesman for Ms Robison said: "This is rank hypocrisy from Labour, given that delayed discharge cases were three times as high when they last had responsibility for Scotland's NHS.

"We have already made huge strides in tackling the issue and accept more needs to be done - but we will take no lectures from Labour given the legacy they left behind."