Hospital bed row
MSP slams costly discharge delays
A MSP has slammed the Scottish Government for failing to abolish delayed discharge that has cost NHS Ayrshire and Arran nearly £8 million in the past year.
Figures released from the Scottish Government’s Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland shows that in 2017/18, 33,699 bed days were lost due to delayed discharge across Ayrshire and Arran at a cost of £7,885,566.
In 2015, the then Scottish health secretary Shona Robison promised to abolish delayed discharge.
Labour South of Scotland list MSP Colin Smyth said: “It is appalling that three years after the SNP promised to abolish delayed discharge we still see eye watering costs associated with delayed discharge.
“It is simply unacceptable that this broken promise is costing our local health board nearly £8m, while putting our overworked NHS staff under even more pressure.”
Mr Smyth said hundreds of patients are having to remain in hospital beds unnecessarily when they could be receiving appropriate care at home. He added failure to tackle the social care crisis and delays in care assessments – a result of the SNP Government’s cuts to Ayrshire’s three local authorities are causing this multi-million- pound scandal. Health secretary, Jeane Freeman, said: “I welcome the further six per cent reduction in bed days lost to delayed discharge that we saw in 2017/18. This follows on from a three per cent reduction in the previous year and a 9 per cent drop in 2015/16.
“It’s vital local health and social care partnerships develop a range of community based services with the key aim of keeping people healthy at home.
“The integration of health and social care will enable us to make long-term, sustainable progress to reduce the level of delayed discharge.
“To support integration, we have transferred nearly half a billion pounds from the NHS into social care and integration in this financial year, and the health budget will increase by almost £2 billion by the end of this parliament.”
Colin McDowall, assistant director of Acute Services at NHS Ayrshire & Arran, said the board agreed a £2.5m investment in new Intermediate Care and Rehabilitation Services in June.
He added: “This investment, alongside over £7m being invested to support General Practice in Ayrshire and Arran over the next two years, will build capacity in community services through recruitment of additional staff including nurses, physiotherapists and pharmacists.
“The role of social care in both care at home and care homes is a key element in facilitating discharge and the Partnerships have recently taken steps to increase the input directly to the hospitals.”