Fife health chiefs are bracing themselves for a “challenging” winter as a leading doctor warns of “pockets of meltdown” in the NHS.
The health board has suffered from winter spikes in the number of delayed discharges, a damaging phenomenon where people are stuck in hospital despite being medically fit to leave.
Delayed discharges in November more than doubled in Fife, from 70 in 2013 to 155 last year.
Although the latest figures for May show a reduction to 80 delays, it is feared the pressures of winter could see it rise again.
Scottish Labour deputy leader and Fife MSP Alex Rowley said the SNP promised to abolish it by January of this year, but it has doubled in Fife.
“What’s more, hundreds of millions of pounds of cuts from the SNP to local councils who provide social care will only make this problem worse,” he added.
“Investing in social care means more people can be cared for at home, rather than having to stay in hospital longer than they need to.
“That is why Labour would use the new powers of the Scottish Parliament to stop the cuts and invest instead.”
Speaking in Edinburgh, Dr Mark Holland, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, fears “pockets of meltdown” brought on by problems like delayed discharge.
Former president Dr Alistair Douglas said they anticipate “difficult times ahead” with NHS Scotland statistics on delayed discharge “showing no indication of improvement over the past five years”.
An NHS Fife spokesman said that in common with other boards winter can be a “challenging time” for them.
“Earlier this year, we completed a review of our previous winter performance, which identified that changes in practice had made the flow of patients through our hospital more efficient, ensured patients received more timely treatment and reduced the number of unnecessary admissions to hospital,” he said.
Public health minister Aileen Campbell said: “We are aware of pressures faced by the Fife partnership over the winter months. However, significant progress has been made by the partnership since November, with the number of standard delays reducing by over 62% between November 2015 and June 2016.”
She added its flagship health policy of integration of health and social care will be “key to driving further improvements”.