Tackling the number of people languishing unnecessarily in Fife’s hospitals is a top priority, it has been claimed.
The region’s director of health and social care, Michael Kellet, said the issue of delayed discharges was being looked at on a daily basis in a bid to ensure hospital beds were freed up for those who actually need them.
A delayed discharge is someone declared medically fit to leave hospital but unable to do so until some form of care is arranged for them at home or in the community.
Over the past few weeks around 100 patients have been stuck in this situation, mainly at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, leading to longer waiting times for people in need of medical treatment.
Mr Kellet admitted the issue was a challenging one but insisted action was being taken.
He was speaking after MSP Alex Rowley expressed concern about soaring delayed discharged levels and claimed NHS Fife staff were overworked as a result of the service failing to cope with the turnover of patients.
Mr Kellet said: “Delayed discharge continues to be a challenge and is a top priority for the health and social care partnership.
“It’s a daily priority for the partnership and the senior management team.”
He added: “Overall, the number is still higher than we would want.
“It’s been around 100 for the last few weeks.”
He said there had been a particular problem two to three weeks ago when the number of patients in delay had risen sharply but the figure had since dropped.
“It’s still slightly higher than it should be but lower than it was,” he said.
Dedicated work to tackle the issue has been ongoing since an £8.4 million investment was approved in August.
This includes finding short-term beds in community hospitals for people ready to leave acute beds but not fit enough to live at home without support.
Health secretary Shona Robison said £30 million would be invested across Scotland over the next three years to speed up improvements, but Mr Rowley accused the Scottish Government of mismanaging the NHS and claimed more and more people were being let down.
