News

Bed-blocking in Scottish hospitals has increased in the past three months despite previous targets being met.

The increase has been blamed on the use of short-term measures to reach April's targets.

The number of patients waiting to be discharged from hospital rose by more than 8 per cent between April and July 2003. Previous figures had shown that NHS and local authority partnerships had exceeded targets, with the number of patients waiting more than six weeks down a third since July 2002.


Deputy health minister Tom McCabe said that NHS and councils must do more to ensure that targets for delayed discharge were met and that the latest figures were a warning against complacency. "Solutions for reducing delayed discharge must not be quick fixes, but sustainable long term solutions that will mean an end to too many older people waiting in inappropriate hospital settings."