Further Rise In Bed-Blocking Levels

The number of patients having to wait longer than the target time to be discharged from hospital has risen again, new figures show.

In October this year, 321 patients were delayed more than four weeks after they were ready to be sent home, according to NHS statistics.

The figure compares with 274 in July and 156 in October 2013.

Delayed discharges - also known as bed blocking - happen when patients are ready to leave hospital but their necessary care, support and accommodation arrangements are not yet in place.

The current target states that nobody should wait more than four weeks from when they are clinically ready to be discharged, with that target set to come down to two weeks next April.

Of the 321 patients who were delayed, 145 were waiting for a place to become available in a care home. A further 90 were waiting to return to their own home.

The figures also show there were 215 patients delayed for more than six weeks in October this year, compared with 175 in July and 100 last October.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: Reducing delayed discharge and tackling its impact on services is something I will take forward as an absolute key priority.

That is because reducing delayed discharge not only helps individual patients, who benefit from getting home or to a homely setting as quickly as possible, but also eases pressure across the system - including in A&E.

Although delayed discharge has been reduced by two-thirds under this Government, these figures show that there is still much to do.

Working closely with local authorities, the NHS must reduce the number of people waiting in hospital for appropriate care services to be arranged in the community. A taskforce has been set up with Cosla to make this happen.

This builds on the significant progress made to devise new and innovative ways to improve the flow of patients through health and care services.

We will continue to support this work, together with our partners in the NHS and local government, to reshape the health and social care system as we work towards integration coming into force in April next year.''