Bed blocking is crippling Scotland’s NHS

The NHS in Scotland is under enormous strain. Three health boards north of the border have stopped non-urgent elective care as the crisis worsens. Urgent treatment and cancer care is being prioritised as patient demand continues to rise past unmanageable levels. The last time we saw this happening was during the pandemic. What’s going so wrong?

One of the major issues in Scottish hospitals is bed-blocking: wards are full of patients who can’t be discharged. This means there is no room for those who turn up to A&E requiring overnight admission.

The shocking part, though, is that many of those patients stuck in hospitals don’t need to be there. On average, there are 1,950 delayed discharges in Scottish hospitals each day. The number of people medically fit for discharge (which is a little different than being ‘medically fit’) is increasing. So, too, is the number of patients waiting over 12 hours in emergency departments.