Delayed discharge saw NHS Highland patient stuck in hospital for over four years in what is one of the worst examples in Scotland of a patient fit enough to go home but cannot because of a lack of care
One NHS Highland patient who was fit enough to be discharged has been stuck in a hospital for more than four years, according to new figures revealed by the Scottish Conservatives.
The freedom of information request exposed how the patient had their discharge delayed by a total of four years and 147 days - the patient was not named nor was the location where they were kept in NHS care.
It also revealed that those patients who are enduring delayed discharge at NHS Highland experience an average waiting period of 88 days – almost three whole months during which they are ready to go home.
Last week, Labour MSP Rhoda Grant picked up on the same issue leading a debate in the Scottish Parliament over the Highlands and Islands £154 million hospital bill for those unable to leave.
That was the cost uncovered to hospitals for failing or being unable to clear beds occupied by medically fit to leave patients in the north in the last 10 years, with more than five million bed days lost.
Other examples cited were even worse in terms of delays with NHS Fife confirming a patient has been waiting for 2576 days – and counting – the equivalent of seven years and 21 days in hospital, despite being deemed well enough to leave.
The average wait for patients to be discharged in the same health board is currently over two years while a patient in Scotland’s largest health board, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, has been stuck for 1,334 days.
Shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane says the figures should be a “source of shame” for successive failed SNP health secretaries who have allowed a permanent crisis to exist across Scotland’s hospitals and social care services.
He says that SNP ministers “scandalously squandered” almost £30 million on their “reckless” plans for a National Care Service which they finally ditched on Thursday.
Dr Gulhane added that the long waits are proof that the “wasted” millions of taxpayers’ money would have been better off being spent on local care services to ensure patients can leave hospitals as quickly as possible.
He said: “It is scarcely believable that any patient would be stuck in one of Scotland’s hospitals for over seven years.
“Patients up and down the country are suffering shocking waits of several years despite the then SNP health secretary Shona Robison promising to eradicate delayed discharge almost a decade ago.
“These disgraceful figures should be a source of shame for the successive SNP health secretaries who have followed her. They have allowed a permanent crisis to exist in Scotland’s hospitals and frontline social care services”.
He added: “That wasted money could and should have been spent on funding local care services which are best placed to meet patients’ needs”.
During the debate led by Mrs Grant, health secretary Neil Gray said: “We've been working with them around how we can support the whole system to respond and that includes providing the support to maintain some care home provision that would otherwise have been put to closure.
“That is in evidence in the most part that we've engaged on previously and there are further interventions that we're working with them on that I hope will help to see the situation improve as we are starting to see in terms of the data.”
He added: “And our planned budget for 2025-26 will invest the further £200 million to reduce waiting list backlogs, improve capacity, remove barriers which keep some people in hospital longer than is necessary”.
Responding to earlier questions raised about delayed discharge, a NHS Highland spokesperson said: “Everyone deserves to be cared for in the right place when they are unwell or need support. We know that people retain more independence and recover more quickly at home or in a homely environment, once they no longer need acute hospital care.
“In Highland a number of issues make providing support out with hospitals challenging: our remote and rural geography and pressures on housing and job markets play a part. To tackle this, NHS Highland is committed to proactively seeking the best discharge option for each patient ready to leave hospital and exploring how and where we need to move resources across the system to support care in the community.
“To reduce the number of people in delay in hospital we have plans to engage with partners to support more people to remain in their own homes whilst opening extra beds across our care homes in the coming year and we have worked with The Highland Council to retain Moss Park Care Home in Lochaber.
“There is still much to do, and we welcome the support and input of communities and providers as we work to reshape access to support for people to retain their independence for as long as they can and to access care as locally as possible”.
An NHS Highland spokesman said: “Like many other Health and Social Care Partnerships across Scotland we are experiencing high levels of patients experiencing delays to their discharge from hospital.
“There are a variety of reasons for these delays, including availability of care home placements and ensuring appropriate levels of support are in place before patients are discharged. The remote and rural nature of Highland also means that we have our own unique challenges in delivering care.
“We continue to face real pressures on services in the community and staffing remains an ongoing challenge, particularly in the care sector. We do however remain committed to reducing the number of people delayed in hospital by working across both our health and social care services to provide appropriate care for people in their own home or as close to their home as possible.”