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A patient has been stuck in a hospital bed for more than SIX YEARS, according to bombshell statistics that reveal the true extent of the delayed-discharge crisis in Scotland’s NHS.

Figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives show that the NHS Grampian patient could have left hospital 2,312 days ago – and counting.

Their experience is the most startling finding from a series of Freedom of Information requests to health boards across Scotland, which the party has collated to provide a nationwide picture of the so-called ‘bed-blocking’ problem.

It shows that of those patients discharged from hospital in the 12 months to June 2022, the average delay was 23 days – although one patient in Greater Glasgow and Clyde finally left hospital after 1,810 days (more than five years).

Of those patients currently still awaiting discharge, their current average delay is 52 days.

In most instances, the delays are caused by patients waiting for a care-home place to come up or a social-care package at home to be made available.

As well as the stress and inconvenience for those patients stuck in hospital, the cost to Scotland’s NHS of delayed discharge is huge. Public Health Scotland estimates it to be £142million per year, or £262 per bed per night.

Shadow Health Secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane, says the figures are a damning indictment of the SNP Government, which vowed, in February 2015, to eradicate delayed discharge.

He added that the problem not only highlighted the failings of the social care system in Scotland but had ramifications across the NHS, from increased A&E waiting times to cancelled and delayed operations and procedures.

Scottish Conservative Shadow Health Secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP, said: “These astonishing figures spell out the crippling reality of delayed discharge on Scotland’s interlinked NHS and social care system – and they ought to shame SNP ministers.

“It’s appalling and mind-blowing to think that a patient could be stuck in hospital for more than six years simply because there is nowhere for them to go. The mental and physical toll that must have taken on them doesn’t bear thinking about.

“But the suffering of stranded patients is only one of the devastating impacts of delayed discharge.

“There’s the enormous financial burden on NHS budgets, as well as the knock-on effects on the A&E waiting-times crisis and the huge operations backlog caused by the reduced number of available beds.

“Successive SNP Health Secretaries have promised for years to eradicate delayed discharge but have singularly failed to do so – and patients, not to mention taxpayers, are suffering as a result.

“This problem stems from a shortage of care home places or social-care packages enabling patients to return to their own homes. Yet, instead of focusing precious resources at a local level, the SNP are diverting £1.3 billion away from the frontline to set up a National Care Service controlled by ministers and lacking local accountability.”

Notes

There is currently a patient stuck in a Scottish hospital who has had their discharge delayed by more than six years. Freedom of Information requests from the Scottish Conservatives have revealed that the longest ongoing delay in NHS Scotland is more than 2,312 days, equivalent to 6.3 years. While this delay is in NHS Grampian, there is also a patient who has been stuck in an NHS Forth Valley hospital for over 1,684 days, equivalent to 4.6 years. By the health board’s own admission, this patient is stuck because there are not enough places available to meet their specific care needs. (Scottish Conservatives, Freedom of Information requests, accessed 3 August 2022, available on request).

Over the last 12 months, some patients discharged from hospital faced delays of nearly five years. In September 2021, a patient was discharged from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde after a 1,810-day delay, equivalent to five years. Patients faced with delays of over one year were also discharged from hospitals in NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Fife, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Grampian and NHS Lothian. (Scottish Conservatives, Freedom of Information requests, accessed 3 August 2022, available on request).

Of those patients currently delayed in hospital, the average delay is 52 days, almost two months. In Scotland’s largest health board, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the average ongoing delay is 71 days, while the worst performing health board is NHS Orkney (85 days). (Scottish Conservatives, Freedom of Information requests, accessed 3 August 2022, available on request).

The vast majority of delayed discharges involve older people who are awaiting a social care package at home or a place in a care home. But instead of putting every penny into local care services, the SNP Government are diverting £1.3 billion away from frontline to establish a National Care Service, which will scrap local accountability, impose total ministerial control and amount to nothing more than a bureaucratic overhaul of services. (Age Scotland, 2 August 2022, link; The Herald, 21 June 2022, link).

Delayed discharge is costing the NHS in excess £140 million a year. In the 2019/20 financial year, the most recent year for which cost data is available, the estimated cost of delayed discharges in NHS Scotland was £142 million, with an estimated average daily bed cost of £262. Using these numbers, we can estimate that the longest ongoing delay in NHS Scotland (2,312 days) has cost over £605,744. (Public Health Scotland, Delayed discharge in NHS Scotland annual, 16 November 2021, link).

Three weeks’ worth of delays in hospital can have the same effect on an older person as ageing by 30 years. Research from Age Scotland shows that three weeks’ worth of delays in hospital can have the same effect on an older person as ageing by 30 years. An average ongoing delay of 52 days across NHS Scotland means that some older people are ageing by the equivalent of as much as 74 years. (Age Scotland, 2 August 2022, link).

Since the SNP promised to eradicate delayed discharge in 2015, there have been more than 10,000 years’ worth of delayed days spent in hospital. In February 2015, the then Health Secretary, Shona Robison, told GMS that she wanted to eradicate delayed discharge from the NHS. Since then, there have been 3,811,882 delayed days in hospital. This equates to 10,444 years. (Public Health Scotland, Delayed discharges in NHS Scotland monthly, 2 August 2022, link).

In the first half of this year alone, there have been 852 years’ worth of delayed days spent in hospital. The total number of delayed days so far this year is 310,849 days, which is 852 years. (Public Health Scotland, Delayed discharges in NHS Scotland monthly, 2 August 2022, link).

Since 2017, an average of 1,364 beds have been occupied per day by patients whose discharge has been delayed. The data on the average number of beds occupied per day only goes back to April 2017. In the 2021/22 financial year, the average number of beds – 1,354 - occupied by patients whose discharge was delayed was nearly 10% greater than the number in 2017/18 – 1,481. (Public Health Scotland, Delayed discharges in NHS Scotland monthly, 2 August 2022, link).