Bed blocking is costing NHS Tayside thousands of lost bed days every month, it has been revealed.
The number of days taken up by delayed discharge across the region have reached their highest level in a decade.
In January, 4562 bed days were lost to bed blocking across NHS Tayside - a rise of almost 1000 from the month before.
The latest statistics revealed there are an average of 147 beds in Tayside occupied by a patient who’s fit to leave every single day.
The closest numbers got to this level was in March 2016, when 4349 beds were impacted.
Of those who were delayed in January, 1604 were considered “code 9” cases – patients who have complex needs.
Most delays are caused by either issues with health and social care departments or “patient and family related reasons”.
Reacting to the figures, Scottish Conservative North East MSP Maurice Golden said: “Delayed discharge causes misery for patients who are fit to leave hospital, and also cause headaches for hard-pressed hospital staff.
“The Scottish Government regularly pledges to get this issue under control.
“But across Tayside the problem is worse than it’s been in 10 years.
“It’s no wonder patients feel like it’s a struggle to access a hospital bed when so many are taken up with vulnerable people who don’t need, or want, to be there.”
And he added: “No-one’s suggesting this is an easy problem to fix, but clearly the Scottish Government needs to do more.
“Delayed discharge also has considerable knock-on effects for other parts of the healthcare system, and these are areas which are already under immense stress.”
A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said, “The most recent number of delayed discharges measured as bed days is for the month of February 2022 and this shows a decrease from the peak in January 2022 to 3829.
“January 2022 saw a significant rise in the number of COVID cases as the Omicron variant spiked and this impacted on the availability of beds in follow-on care facilities such as care homes and the ability to provide care at home services. This spike in Omicron accounts for the higher number of delayed discharges at the beginning of the year.
"Discharge from hospital can be delayed for a number of reasons including patients waiting for admission to care homes, or a social care assessment or provision of equipment or care at home services.
“Some patients may have complicated health and social care needs and require more specialist care to be in place before their discharge from hospital and this can lead to delays in hospital while these arrangements are made.
“Our commitment to patients is that they should not have to wait unnecessarily for the most appropriate care to be provided after treatment.
“NHS Tayside will continue to work closely with the three Health and Social Care Partnerships in Angus, Dundee and Perth & Kinross which deliver care home and care at home services, to develop sustainable and safe solutions that aim to avoid unnecessary delays in discharging patients from hospital."
- The full report on delayed discharge can be seen here.
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