Question reference: S6W-07976
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 20 April 2022
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Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 May 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the reported statement that the number of delayed discharges is back to pre-pandemic levels, whether it will provide details of the figures on which this is based.
Answer
Weekly management information published as part of the Coronavirus (Covid-19): Trends in Daily Data publication ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-trends-in-daily-data/ ) shows that delays first exceeded pre-pandemic levels (1,640 delays in January 2020) on 19 January 2020, with 1,664 delays recorded. Delays remained above 1,640 for the next two weeks before reducing again to pre-pandemic levels between 9 February and 23 March.
The whole health and social care system is under severe pressure and staff continue to work tirelessly to provide safe care. However, we continue to see extreme pressures across the whole health and social care system, with more people coming through hospitals who need high levels of care and support to go home, alongside high levels of unmet need in the community.
To address this significant additional funding has been allocated to support social care, including £62m to enhance care at home capacity; £48m to increase the hourly rate of pay; £40m to provide interim care arrangements; and £20m to enhance multi-disciplinary teams. Funding is also being used to rapidly scale up Hospital at Home services, which aim to reduce acute admissions and support timely discharge.