THE number of NHS patients needlessly stuck in a hospital bed has risen almost 10 per cent in a year, despite Scottish Government promises to eradicate the problem.
The latest official NHS Scotland statistics said there was a 9 per cent rise in people who were well enough to leave hospital, but whose discharge had been delayed.
The most common cause for bed blocking was a problem in the social care system, including the lack of a social care package.
At the February 2019 census point there were 1,419 people delayed, compared to 1,297 at the same point in February 2018.
The total number of days spent in hospital by delayed patients in February 2019 was 40,813, a six per cent rise on the 38,394 days the previous year.
Of the 1,419 people delayed in February this year, 1,122 were in hospital more than three days, with health and social care reasons accounting for 808 patients (72%), complex needs accounting for 267 patients (24%), and patient and family reasons for 47 patients (4%).
Former SNP health Secretary Shona Robison said in February 2015 that she wanted to “eradicate delayed discharge out of the system” that year, but the problem continues.
Tory MSP Miles Briggs said SNP ministers had failed to get to grips with the problem.
He said: “They have no direction for how to improve social care in Scotland, which would allow people to leave hospital once they had recovered from their illness or operation.
“Delayed discharge decreases hospital capacity, costs millions of pounds a year and, most importantly, is bad for patients who don’t want to be stuck in a hospital bed once they are medically fit to leave. It is not the fault of patients who aren’t able leave hospital that they don’t have anywhere to go, the blame falls solely at the feet of the SNP, who have allowed this crisis to develop.”
Labour’s Monica Lennon blamed underinvestment in social care.
She said: “It’s time the Scottish Government kept its word and put the dignity and well-being of people in need of social care first.”
LibDem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said the figures were “a disgrace”.
He said: “Well over 1,000 are stuck in hospital on any given day when they are well enough to go home because there isn’t enough care available in the community.
“Nobody wants to have to stick around hospital longer than they need to.
“Patients shouldn’t be paying the price for poor government planning and miserly funding.
“Our social care system doesn’t have the resources or capacity it needs to meet demand. That’s something the government can and must fix.”
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “No one should have to spend unnecessary time in hospital once treatment is complete.
“That is why we are allocating more than £700m to support social care and integration in 2019-20, helping to reduce delays in the system.
“While many health and social care partnerships are performing well, a small number are accounting for a significant proportion of the delays.
“It’s therefore vital that we continue to share good practice throughout the system.”
She said a recent increase in delays where a court application for guardianship under adults with incapacity legislation is necessary and this is being addressed with new guidance due shortly and a review of the legislation.
Other statistics showed stretched hospitals cancelling hundreds of operations each month.
In February, 571 planned operations (2.1%) were cancelled in February due to capacity ot non-clinical reasons, down from a spike of 3.4% in November. Ms Lennon said the problem had become a “grim norm”, while Ms Freeman said health boards were keeping cancellations to a minimum and then rescheduling operations.
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