The death of 93 people while waiting to be discharged from hospital in Fife could just be the “tip of the iceberg”, it has been claimed.
Labour’s health spokeswoman, Jackie Baillie, made the allegation after the Scottish Government issued a statement on the continuing issue of “bed-blocking” at Holyrood yesterday.
Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon revealed medical directors have been advised to review similar cases across Scotland since the Fife problem came to light in The Courier last week.
“We have a duty to enable older people to stay at home and live independently for as long as possible,” she said. “We have a duty to enable them, when clinically fit to do so, to return to an appropriate homely setting after a stay in hospital.
“In my view, in order to underline how important it is to avoid such situations arising, and to ensure that the focus remains at all times on reducing delayed discharges, that when a patient has been deemed fit for discharge and subsequently dies before discharge takes place, the medical director of the relevant NHS board should ensure that the circumstances are always fully reviewed.
“I’ve written to boards advising them that this should be the practice and that I expect boards, as part of the clinical governance arrangements, to receive regular updates.”
The figures for Fife were revealed following a freedom of information request by Labour MSP Dr Richard Simpson.
“I would never have imagined that so many people would pass away while waiting for an appropriate care package,” he said.ImprovingMs Sturgeon said the number in Fife was too high, but insisted the problem had generally been improving in recent years.
She said 646 people were kept in hospital beyond the target in April 2005 under the Labour-Liberal Democrat administration, while numbers were at zero at the April census from 2007 under the SNP.
The latest figure, from October, showed there were 128 patients waiting beyond the limit.
Ms Sturgeon said the SNP would aim to lower the target if re-elected, but Ms Baillie demanded information about all health boards was published promptly.
“It is deeply concerning that 93 patients in Fife died in hospital while awaiting discharge,” she said.
“The health secretary admitted in her statement that the number of delayed discharges in Fife was unacceptably high, but she was not able to tell us how many patients in other parts of Scotland had died while they were awaiting hospital release.
“We believe that Fife could be the tip of the iceberg and this information should be published as a matter of urgency.”
Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Claire Baker said, “Nicola Sturgeon must apologise for this and her failure to properly address the region’s bed-blocking crisis.”
Lib Dem public health spokesman Jamie Stone said, “There is absolutely no point in protecting the health budget if patients then end up languishing in expensive hospital beds for weeks on end.”
Photo used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user Rodrigo Basaure.