Nearly 40,000 patients discharged from hospital at unsociable hours, figures show

The Scottish Conservatives have expressed “deep concern” after it emerged that almost 40,000 patients were discharged from hospital at unsociable hours.

Figures obtained by the party using freedom of information requests revealed 38,535 patients were released from hospital after 10pm in 2022.

Of that number, 16,488 patients were discharged between midnight and 5am, while a further 4,993 patients were released between 3am and 5am.

Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane – a practicing NHS GP – said middle-of-the-night discharges could compromise the safety of elderly and vulnerable patients due to a lack of available care services.

Figures revealed 38,535 patients were released from hospital after 10pm

He has urged Health Secretary Michael Matheson to tackle the issue.

It could also cost Scotland’s NHS a significant amount of money if patients are released while public transport is closed.

The total figure of late-night discharges is thought to be higher, the Tories said, as NHS Lothian and NHS Forth Valley did not respond to the request for information.

A breakdown of the figures shows the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area had the most late-night discharges, with 9,889 patients released from hospitals between 10pm and 5am – representing 26 per cent of all cases.

At Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, the first bus does not arrive until 5.51am and the last enters the hospital at 10.48pm, meaning patients must find their own way home or rely on an NHS-funded taxi.

Dr Gulhane said: “The sheer volume of patients being discharged in the middle of the night is a cause for deep concern.

“We know that the SNP’s failure to tackle delayed discharge is an enormous problem in Scotland, but, equally, we don’t want elderly or vulnerable patients being sent home in the middle of the night.

“Ideally, hospitals should be striving to discharge patients during the daytime.

“On top of the problem of frail, older people getting inside their homes in the cold and dark – and the potential that brings for slips and falls – you have the issue that care packages or outside assistance won’t be on hand until the following day.

“There’s also a big cost implication for the NHS. If patients are discharged in the middle of the night and there is no public transport available – or a relative to pick them up – the health board will often pick up the tab for a patient’s taxi fare home.

“Given NHS resources are so scarce, this is an outlay that could be reduced or eliminated if hospitals were better resourced – and therefore better organised – in terms of timings of the discharge of patients.

“This problem is just another manifestation of the SNP’s poor running of Scotland’s NHS, and one that the new Health Secretary must address.”