Bed - blocking in Scottish hospitals rises by 10%
The number of patients stuck in hospital despite being fit to leave has increased since last year
Last updated 7th Aug 2018
New figures show the number of people remaining in hospital despite being medically fit to leave has increase in the past year.
Official statistics revealed the number of patients delayed in being discharged has jumped from 1,300 in June 2017 to 1,436 in June this year.
Delayed discharge, also known as bed blocking, occurs when patients are fit to leave hospital but are unable to - often due to a lack of social care.
Of those patients affected in the June census, the vast majority - 1,187 - were delayed for more than three days.
A total of 573 patients at the census point were delayed for more than four weeks while 28 of those had been waiting to leave for over a year.
The daily average number of beds blocked rose for the sixth consecutive month to 1,413.
In total, patients spent 42,375 days in hospital due to delayed discharge in June, up 8% from 39,252 in June 2017.