Merge health and social care budgets to reduce delayed discharges

The latest official figures show that delayed discharges are continuing to increase, with more people waiting longer to be discharged from hospital.

This is on top of figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives in December 2010.

Murdo Fraser MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health & Wellbeing, said:

"Figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives showed that, between July-December 2010, there was an increase of nearly 5,000 days worth of delays in moving patients out of hospital and into a care home. This was a year on year increase of nearly 2,500 days during the same period the previous year. Coupled with today's figures, it is clear we are witnessing a worrying trend.

"Quite apart from the distress that may be caused to individuals, delayed discharges are hugely expensive. More people waiting longer will put huge pressure on the system.

"Scottish Conservatives have called for The Sutherland Report recommendations to be implemented – this would merge the health and social care budgets to help reduce delayed discharges and deliver a faster response time to those most in need of care.

"These changes need to be implemented now to reverse the trend of increased delays that the current system is currently producing. The SNP Government is bringing forward proposals to try and address this issue, and we need to see these proposals as soon as possible."

Today's figures show:

There were 168 patients delayed for over 6 weeks in the January 2011 census. This

compares with 128 at the October 2010 census and 83 at the January 2010 census.

At the January 2011 census, there were a total of 790 delayed discharges in

Scotland, compared with 776 at the October 2010 census, and 606 at the January

2010 census.

The median duration to the census point for all delayed discharges was 26 days ( 23

days at the October 2010 census, and 25 days at the January 2010 census).

The number of patients experiencing delays in short stay specialties in Scotland has

increased since October 2010. There were 87 at the January 2011 census compared to 75 at October 2010 and 55 at the January 2010 census.

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