Increase in beds taken up by patients ready to leave

DELAYED discharges, which see patients take up valuable bed space in hospital, increased in July, figures have revealed.

Official statistics show that last month 50 patients had to be kept in hospital for more than six weeks after they were well enough to be discharged.

This compares with 13 in April 2012 and 95 in July 2011.

Meanwhile, 164 patients were delayed by more than four weeks – the lowest-ever recorded for the July delayed discharges census, health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said.

In most cases, bed blocking, or delayed discharge, occurs when patients are unable to leave hospital because they are waiting for care to be arranged.

Overall, 778 discharges were delayed in July 2012, compared with 772 in July 2011.

Ms Sturgeon announced new targets to reduce delays last October.

She said: “We have made great progress over the last six years in reducing delayed discharges, yet too many people, mainly older people, are still waiting too long to be discharged from hospital.

“That is why we have set even tougher targets – to have no-one delayed for more than four weeks by 2013 and more than two weeks by 2015.”