Bid to beat bed blocking hailed

The figures meet a target on discharges

NHS and local authority workers have been praised for figures claiming progress in tackling so-called bed blocking.

Scottish Executive statistics showed that the number of patients whose discharge from hospital had been delayed fell from 3,116 to 2,066 in just over 12 months.

The bed blocking study covered the period from January 2002 until April this year.

The figures also revealed that the number of patients waiting more than six weeks to be discharged dropped from 1,957 to 1,249 over the same period.

Deputy Health Minister Tom McCabe said he was delighted that the executive's target of reducing bed blocking by 1,000 had been achieved.

The challenge for everyone now is to sustain this momentum

Tom McCabe,
Deputy health minister

The minister said: "Our targets were ambitious and it is a tribute to the hard work and determination of all the partnerships across Scotland that this achievement has been made.

"The executive provided the funding to kick-start action, but it is their commitment that has made the difference."

The executive launched its delayed discharge action plan in March last year in a bid to reduce the amount of patients who are forced to stay in hospital because of a lack of care home places.

Long-term solutions

Mr McCabe said that with Scotland's population set to get older in the years ahead, it was vital that long-term solutions to the problem of bed blocking were found.

He said: "The challenge for everyone now is to sustain this momentum.

"I want to see action that will help to sustain the improvements already made and reduce delayed discharge further - not just for the months, but for the years to come.

"Health and social care partnerships must look at the services they provide and make sure that the right balance between health and social care services exists to meet future needs."