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Revealed: Millions of bed days lost to delayed discharge

More than 4.6 million “bed days” have been lost to delayed discharge over the last decade, new research has revealed.

Analysis shows that hospital beds were occupied by someone who was physically fit to leave on millions of occasions since 2016/17.


The problem of delayed discharge has beset hospitals for years, leaving vulnerable patients stranded instead of going home with a care package or securing a place in a care home.


In the first seven months of this year, more than 400,000 bed days have been lost across the country, meaning 2024/25 will almost certainly be a record year for bed blocking.


In total, 4,606,266 bed days have been attributed to delayed discharge patients in the past nine years, according to the Public Health Scotland data.


Alastair Cameron, chair of Scotland in Union, said:


“The Scottish Government has made repeated pledges to tackle delayed discharge, but things are only getting worse.


“Everyone knows it has long been a problem for Scotland’s NHS, and people will be shocked to see the sheer scale of it.


“It’s appalling that millions of bed days have been taken up while patients wait on hospital trolleys and others struggle to get an appointment at all.


“This is the consequence of a nationalist government being more worried about its narrow constitutional agenda than about fixing the things which matter to Scots today.”


Notes:


Below is the annual number of bed days lost to delayed discharge since these records began in 2016/17:


2016/17 (from July) – 399,315

2017/18 – 494,123

2018/19 – 521,772

2019/20 – 542,204

2020/21 – 358,426

2021/22 – 540,302

2022/23 – 661,705

2023/24 – 666,190

2024/25 (to October) – 422,229


Total – 4,606,266


The full Public Health Scotland data table can be seen here:



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