Delayed hospital discharge figures for Dumfries and Galloway have been branded “dire”.
A total of 2,800 bed days were lost in the region’s hospitals due to bed blocking in September.
Although a slight improvement on August, it’s nearly double the figure from September 2021.
The figures from Public Health Scotland also show that the average number of patients in hospital despite being deemed well enough to leave was 93.
That’s up slightly from the August figure of 92 and a notable increase from the July figure of 83.
Labour MSP Colin Smyth said: “Every month we are seeing dire figures across the south of Scotland when it comes to delayed discharge and our fantastic NHS is struggling.
“Almost everyone knows of families who are dealing with this terrible situation and it is getting worse.
“This crisis is damaging patients’ recovery, draining precious funds from our NHS at the worst possible time and resulting in an enormous pressure on NHS staff caring for people who shouldn’t be in hospital.”
Delayed discharge, also known as bed blocking, is when a patient is medically cleared to go home but can’t leave hospital for various reasons, such as no care package being in place.
Across Scotland, 54,960 days were lost in September, compared to 55,753 in August. The figure for September 2021 was 48,436.
At the time the data was produced for September 22, there were 97 people in the region’s hospitals despite being well enough to leave.
But on Friday last week, NHS Dumfries and Galloway chief executive Jeff Ace revealed the figure stood at 139 and pleaded for people to help provide care at home.
A health board spokesman told the Standard the hard work of staff and the help of families had seen that drop to 109.
He said: “Recent weeks days have been exceptionally difficult for hospital and community services across Dumfries and Galloway, with continued high admissions and challenges discharging people home.
“We have a large number of people requiring acute care, meaning they need immediate medical support. This is likely to continue to be the case over an incredibly challenging winter period. Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership is committed to a policy of supporting people to live at home as independently as possible for as long as possible, and to providing the right care in the right place at the right time.
“As we head towards winter we continue to work as part of that partnership to achieve these goals.
“We continue to rely on community support, so thank you for the help so far.”
“ It is critical that people are cared for in the right setting and that vital hospital beds are there for those who need them.”
