Scottish hospitals still beset by bed-blocking problems

Published on Tuesday 25 August 2009 12:55

THE Scottish Government today came under opposition attack after figures showed hospitals continuing to be hit by bed-blocking.

More than 50 patients were still in hospital in July six weeks after becoming ready for discharge, the figures showed.

Labour said this was despite a Scottish Government pledge to take the figure down to zero.

Bed-blocking, technically "delayed discharges", occurs when patients – usually elderly – are ready to leave hospital but cannot do so for various reasons, such as having no care home place.

Six weeks are allowed for planning and to make arrangements but today's figures show that in July, 55 patients waited longer than this.

The figure compares with none in April and 44 in July last year.

In total 634 people had their discharge delayed in July, compared with 468 in April and 601 in July last year.

The average delay was 21 days, compared with 22 days in April and 20 last July.

The problem also exists in short-stay "specialities", where 55 people had their discharged delayed in July, compared with 33 in April.

Labour health spokeswoman Cathy Jamieson said: "This is a direct consequence of the SNP's decision to remove 29 million of ring-fenced funding from the health budget."

Bed-blocking increased the risk of patients catching infections during unnecessary stays in hospital, she said.

"This failure represents another broken promise for the SNP and the increasing number of blocked beds will put more pressure on hospitals who may soon have to cope with a second wave of flu cases."