NHS crisis as bed-blocking rates increase
... and you’ll wait longer to be seen
THE crisis in Scotland’s NHS is deepening, with the number of patients stuck in hospitals rising over the past year.
Bed-blocking has worsened and nearly 500 operations were cancelled last month.
In March, 43,419 days were spent in hospital by people whose discharge was delayed – an increase of 2 per cent on the same month last year.
Many people are kept on hospital wards for ‘health and social care reasons’, which include patients waiting for a care home place or social care support to enable them to live in their own home.
A&e waiting times figures showed that for the last week in April, performance against the Scottish Government’s fourhour target had fallen, with only 87 per cent of patients seen – compared to 91 per cent in the first week of March.
In April, 490 operations were cancelled for ‘capacity or nonanguish. clinical reasons’ by hospitals, a drop from 571 in February.
Opposition parties seized on the NhS figures.
Scottish Labour health spokesman Monica Lennon said: ‘NhS staff in our A&e departments work incredibly hard but they simply are not receiving the support they need to see and treat all patients within the targets set by the SNP Government.
‘People are being forced to wait in pain for treatment longer than they were promised they would have to. they need a government that faces the facts and delivers the support our NhS needs.’
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Colehamilton said: ‘hundreds of patients are missing out on planned operations through no fault of their own. the pain and suffering this causes is utterly unacceptable.
‘For many patients, the hassle of cancelled and rescheduled surgeries can cause a lot of People naturally worry about surgery and cancellations cause huge disruption to lives.
‘NhS staff do an incredible job but they haven’t the resources they need to meet demand and keep operations running to schedule. the SNP have repeatedly promised to staff our NhS effectively, yet there is no part of the service which is now not coming under pressure.’
On delayed discharge, he said: ‘every day there are more than 1,000 people stuck in hospital. Medical staff have declared them well enough to leave but the care they need in the community simply isn’t there.
‘People are routinely waiting far too long for assessments, care home places and the support they need to return to their own home.
‘Staff are working around the clock but they need more support from the Scottish Government, given it promised to eradicate delayed discharges years ago.’
health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: ‘today’s statistics show that in March there were more than 870 operations carried out on average each day, with fewer than 2 per cent of all operations cancelled for capacity or non-clinical reasons.
‘the decision to postpone a procedure is never taken lightly. We continue to work closely with health boards to ensure
‘Missing out on operations’ ‘This is utterly unacceptable’
cancellations are kept to a minimum and that any postponed procedures will be rescheduled at the earliest opportunity.
‘Our Waiting times Improvement Plan, backed with more than £850million of funding, will help increase capacity and efficiency and introduce new models of care.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are continuing to work closely with health and social care partnerships to ensure the good practice that exists in many areas is spread across Scotland.
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