Tayside and Fife’s health boards will benefit from almost £15 million of government funding as part of a £100 million attempt to tackle bed blocking.
Health Secretary Shona Robison announced the cash on Tuesday, saying it should be used to deliver good quality care and support for people at home.
The funding comes the day after NHS Fife was told to get to grips with its bed blocking crisis “as a matter of urgency” by The Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
Ms Robison said: “Tackling delayed discharge is an absolute key priority for this government and today’s announcement of £100 million over the next three years is crucial to this effort.
“Reducing delayed discharge not only helps individual patients, who benefit from getting home or to a homely setting as quickly as possible, but also helps ease pressure across the system.
“However, this is about far more than just investment, it forms part of the Government’s overarching commitment to implementing the integration of health and social care services across Scotland.”
Locally, £6.73m has been set aside for NHS Fife and £7.86 for Tayside’s health board, which will be split between £2.13 million for Angus, £3.1 million for Dundee and £2.63 million for Perth and Kinross.
The money is aimed at preventing delays in people waiting to be discharged from hospital and preventing admissions to hospital and attendances at A&E.
However, Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick chastised the Scottish Government and Ms Robison for announcing the funding to the BBC rather than parliament.
It was raised as an issue with her by Labour’s business manager, James Kelly, and Ms Marwick said she found ministers’ explanation “unsatisfactory”.
She said: “The issue of delayed discharges has been of great concern to many Members over the last few months. I therefore consider it to be a gross discourtesy to this Parliament and its Members that the announcement was not made here first.
“When a similar situation arose last year, I indicated that it was my expectation that the Government should reflect on its actions. I am very disappointed that this does not appear to have happened.”
Ms Marwick also said she would have accepted an emergency question, allowing the announcement to be made and forcing Ms Robison to be present at Holyrood.
The funding was welcomed by the Royal College of Nursing Scotland as “an important first step”.