Bed blocking case fall welcomed

Bed blocking costs the NHS thousands

The number of cases of so-called bed-blocking in Scotland has fallen slightly according to fresh figures.

The statistics reveal that there were 3,116 patients ready for discharge in January, compared with 3,138 last October.

However, compared with January of last year, the figures show an increase of nearly 10%.

Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm said the slight fall in current cases showed the "green shoots" of improvement.

Malcolm Chisholm: "Green shoots"

He added: "But we still have some way to go before we can begin to consistently reverse these trends.

"As I said last month, I expect to see the concerted action we are now taking through our £20m delayed discharge Action Plan start to deliver real and measurable outcomes from now on.

"Creating 1,000 extra care packages will be a substantial first step in that process."

But the Scottish National Party's Nicola Sturgeon and the Tories Mary Scanlon used the publication of the new figures to criticise the executive's record on bed blocking.

In many cases recorded, the delays were caused by elderly patients being ready for discharge but with no place to go.

Tailor-made

Lack of public funding for nursing home places was said to be the main reason for 420, or 20%, of the delayed cases, while a further 377, or 18%, were said to be awaiting non-NHS funded places becoming available.

Bed blocking is already running at a much higher rate in Scotland than in the rest of the UK and these figures show that Labour's only impact has been to make the problem significantly worse

Nicola Sturgeon
SNP

At the beginning of March, Mr Chisholm announced his £20m drive to combat bed-blocking.

The 1,000 extra "care packages" amounted to tailor-made individual arrangements for care home places or other measures.

But Ms Sturgeon said: "Bed blocking has jumped by almost 10% in the last year alone, with over 3,000 patients now trapped in beds while ready for discharge.

"Bed blocking is already running at a much higher rate in Scotland than in the rest of the UK and these figures show that Labour's only impact has been to make the problem significantly worse."

Mary Scanlon: "Little improvement"

Ms Sturgeon said the executive had repeatedly promised to tackle the problem but accused ministers of refusing to address "the core problem" faced by the NHS such as a lack of beds.

And Ms Scanlon said it was incredibly disappointing that "precious little improvement had been shown".

She added: "Malcolm Chisholm heralds a 5% reduction in those waiting over six weeks - but he fails to point out that year on year 155 more patients languish longer than six weeks.

"The only solution the executive has come up with is to throw money at the problem, without reforming the system.

"This is tantamount to throwing tax-payers money away as it is patently obvious that money alone is not enough."