July census shows 10% rise in bed blocking

The number of people stuck in hospital despite being medically fit to leave has risen by 10 per cent in a year.

Official statistics show 1,420 people were delayed in being discharged when a census was taken in July, up 10 per cent from 1,293 in the census for July 2017.

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 July census, 1,181 were delayed more than three days.

The most common reason for delays over three days was health and social care reasons, at 74 per cent, followed by complex needs, at 23 per cent, then patient and family-related reasons, at 3 per cent.

The daily average number of beds blocked fell slightly from 1,413 in June to 1,404 in July.

In total, patients spent 43,536 days in hospital due to delayed discharge in July, an increase of 7 per cent on the same month the previous year.

Health secretary Jeane Freeman said: “The integration of health and social care will enable us to make long-term, sustainable progress to reduce the level of delayed discharge.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-hamilton said: “SNP ministers must now set out their plans for reducing avoidable delayed discharges and the progress they expect to be made tackling it over the coming months.”