Latest figures show how important it is to invest in social care staff
Alison Johnstone, Health spokesperson for the Scottish Greens and MSP for Lothian, today highlighted delayed discharge figures showing 740 people were stuck in hospitals last month waiting for care home places or assessments.
In March 2016, patients spent 46,309 days in hospital due to delays in discharge - a slight drop on the 47,476 days recorded a year ago.
Of the 1,107 patients delayed in April, 367 were for specific complex care needs. The remaining 740 were waiting for a place in a care home, completion of a social care assessment or arrangements for care support to live in their own home.
Alison Johnstone, Health spokesperson for the Scottish Greens and MSP for Lothian, said:
"These figures show how important it is to invest in social care staff. Delays in accessing care places and assessments are leading to stress for whole families as people are stuck in hospital when they should be in a more appropriate setting. It also means pressure on bed space for an NHS increasingly in demand.
"Scottish ministers must pick up the pace and properly support the new health and social care integration boards getting to grips with the requirements in different areas. In many cases lack of adapted transport and adapted housing can cause a delay so let's make sure funds for social care are going into the improvements in equipment and staffing that we need to see.”
Delayed Discharges in NHSScotland
(ISD Scotland)