MORE than 500 additional hospital bed days were lost in Forth Valley last August due to healthy patients being delayed in their discharge.

Recently published figures show a notable rise in the number of people fit enough to leave hospital, but whom were without the necessary care, support or accommodation needed to do so.

According to the stats, there were 2,985 days spent in hospital across the health board area by patients delayed in their discharge.

But the total number of beds lost in July was found to be 2,472 – showing an increase of more than 20 per cent.

Labour also said the number patients who were delayed from discharge in August was 99, compared to 82 from the previous month.

The party have since put the Scottish Government under fire for failing to address the issue – often termed bed-blocking.

However, the SNP's Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, insists delayed discharge is a priority for the government and added that the figures failed to account for the hundreds of "intermediate care" beds available.

Nevertheless, Alex Rowley, Labour MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, this week condemned the SNP's "mismanagement " of the health service and called for more support for overworked staff.

He said: “The situation we are seeing here in Forth Valley is the same all over the country. More and more people are being let down by the government's mismanagement of our NHS.

“The NHS is one of our proudest achievements of the 20th century and it must be looked after in the 21st century so it can care for the old when they need it and meet the needs of our communities.

“I have spoken with NHS staff and realise that they are doing the absolute best that they can under immense pressure; however, it is clear that many are being overworked, undervalued and not enough resources are being provided.

“The cuts that NHS Forth Valley are being forced to make over the coming years will only make this worse. That’s why Scottish Labour has proposed using the new powers of the Scottish Parliament to stop the cuts to our public services, support our staff and deliver for patients.”

Mr Brown, meanwhile, said he would be contacting the health board for an update on their progress, but argued that a lot of work has already been done to tackle delayed discharge.

He told the Advertiser: “As medicine has developed, and treatment improved, patients are spending less time in hospitals and, like other countries with developed health systems, hospital bed numbers have reduced.

“It should also be noted that health and social care partnerships have increased the number of intermediate care beds they provide, with 700 such beds now available across Scotland, which are not captured in the bed statistics.

“Tackling delayed discharge is a priority for the Scottish Government which is why last year, Forth Valley Health Board received an additional £5.36million to enable them to work with local authorities to reduce the number of delayed discharges.

“NHS boards and their partners are strengthening their winter capability for this year to support admission avoidance and delayed discharge, and are developing contingency plans to open additional staffed acute beds if needed.”