Delayed discharges in NHSScotland

This publication provides monthly information on the number of hospital bed days associated with delayed discharges and the number of discharges from hospital following a period of delay for a full calendar month. Information is also provided on the number of people experiencing a delay in discharge from hospital at the monthly census point.

Figures are shown for Scotland, NHS board area of treatment and local authority of residence for people aged 18 and over who were clinically ready for discharge.

Health and Social Care

Delayed discharges

HTML and Excel

Public Health Scotland (PHS) delayed discharge monthly data submission.

The number of people delayed as at a monthly census snapshot taken on the last Thursday of the month.

The number of bed days occupied by people delayed in their discharge from hospital in the calendar month.

The number of discharges from hospital following a period of delay in the calendar month.

These data were submitted by NHS boards to Public Health Scotland in April 2024.

7 May 2024

Monthly

Data are available for publication within six to eight weeks of the census month.

NHS boards submit delayed discharge information to PHS for national reporting purposes.

Revised data definitions manual and national data requirements were effective 1 July 2016. For detailed changes to the definitions since 2005, see page 2 of the latest Delayed Discharge Definitions Manual effective 1 July 2016 and a summary of changes and impact on national reporting.

Some NHS boards used the EDISON system to record people delayed in their discharge from hospital. During 2018 EDISON was retired and affected boards migrated to their own local system solutions. NHS boards are still required to report on delayed discharges as specified in the data definitions and national reporting requirements effective 1 July 2016, therefore figures remain comparable and we do not expect any reduction in the quality of the data.

Figures contained within each publication may also be subject to change in future publications. Further detail can be found on the about our statistics section of the website.

To provide consistency across reporting, the calculation of “Number of delays at census point > 6 months” for Code 9 Delays has been modified and is now calculated as greater than 182 days. Previously, this was calculated as greater than 180 days. The figures have been revised in the 7 May 2024 publication. The impact of this is negligible, for example the overall impact on the Scotland monthly figures of the number of Code 9 delayed discharges at the census point waiting over six months, has been a reduction of approximately 2% (1 to 2 people) per month on average.  This revision does not affect the overall interpretation or conclusions to be drawn from the previously published data.

View the delayed discharge data definitions manual (effective from 1 July 2016), national data requirements (effective 1 July 2016) and a summary of PHS validation checks.

Key uses of delayed discharge information include monitoring policy obligations both locally and nationally, helping to troubleshoot in partnership areas with specific problems, facilitating benchmarking with other areas, identifying the potential release of resources to focus on more appropriate care and providing useful dialogue between health and social care agencies.

Delayed discharge information is also used to respond to information requests (including Freedom of Information (FOI) requests) from a variety of customers and parliamentary questions.

The data are considered accurate. Data are validated locally by partnerships. PHS carry out further validation checks in consultation with NHS boards.

100% of the data is used for analysis.

Data are not comparable out with Scotland.

It is the policy of Public Health Scotland (PHS) to make its web sites and products accessible according to published guidelines.

All delayed discharge reports are available on this website. Tables and charts are presented within interactive Excel workbooks with drop down boxes.

Number of delays by length and reason at the census point.
Number of bed days occupied by delayed patients in a calendar month.
Number of discharges from hospital following a period of delay in a calendar month.

The PHS protocol on statistical disclosure is followed.

Accredited official statistics

These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in September 2011.

2 April 2024

4 June 2024

Historic quarterly data published from December 2000
Monthly data published from June 2015
First annual publication in June 2016

phs.delayeddischarges@phs.scot

22 April 2024