Figures released by Public Health Scotland on Tuesday show delayed discharge numbers are continuing to improve in Dumfries and Galloway but are still a concern, according to Colin Smyth MSP.

When comparing January 2023 with January 2024, the figures in Dumfries and Galloway dropped by 11 per cent but are still are a massive 49 per cent higher than pre-pandemic (January 2019).

Delayed discharge is when a patient is medically cleared to go home but cannot leave hospital, often because a social care package is not in place or there is a lack of places in care homes or sheltered housing.

Across the region thousands of hours of assessed care is not being provided in homes because of a lack of carers.

Colin Smyth said: “This month’s delayed discharge figures in Dumfries and Galloway are showing another welcome drop in numbers year on year.

“While this is obviously positive, when you look at the figures pre-pandemic, you get an idea of just how dire the situation remains.

“Years before Covid, the Scottish Government had vowed to eradicate delayed discharge but instead we are in a situation where we have more and more people remaining in hospital when they are fit to be discharged. This is not only piling pressure on our hospitals but threatening patients’ recovery.

“Our social care system is crying out for help – our amazing local NHS is working as hard as they can to get people out of hospital, but they can’t work miracles.

“Patients and workers across our health and social care system are being failed and we urgently need to support social care services.

“We need long term investment, including tackling the woeful low level of sheltered housing locally, but the Government could start by backing Labour’s plans to pay care workers a fair wage of £12 an hour, rising to £15 which would help with the recruitment crisis.”