Patients have languished in north-east hospitals for at least four years after they were declared able to leave, it has emerged.
The Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) for Scotland has laid bare the crisis of delayed discharge in Scotland’s hospitals, with at least one patient forced to stay in hospital for seven years longer than necessary.
The commission has said there is an “unacceptable” rise in NHS patients eligible to leave being trapped in the system and has called on the health service to address the situation as a “matter of urgency”.
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Senior medics have blamed the delays on a lack of accommodation and community care staff.
As reported in The Sunday Times, there are at least 73 patients with learning disabilities who have been assessed as ready to leave but have been unable to due to a lack of external care provision.
Among them is a patient who was declared fit to leave in 2011.
The MWC declined to name the health board but confirmed there were patients who had been unable to leave for four years or more in Grampian, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lothian, Ayrshire and Arran, Forth Valley and Tayside.
Miles Briggs, the Scottish Tory health spokesman, branded the situation a “scandal”.
And the British Institute of Human Rights has warned that health authorities are vulnerable to legal action for breaching the human rights of patients.
In September figures were released which showed one in 13 hospital beds in Scotland were occupied by people who were well enough to leave.
NHS Grampian said it worked with the region’s three health and social care partnerships, which are responsible for finding care and accommodation for patients who need assistance after being discharged.
A spokesman said: “There have been some notable improvements by each of those three agencies over recent years – Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership, for example, recorded its lowest ever number of ‘delayed discharges’ this year.
“In rare cases, some patients reach a stage where they do not require ongoing hospital care, but they have such specialised and complex requirements that it makes it very difficult for Health and Social Care Partnerships to find the right accommodation and support in the community.
“Where that happens, we continue to provide care in on our hospitals until a suitable ongoing care package is identified.”
