Stevenson Welcomes Increase in Discharge Rates Across NHS Grampian

Stewart Stevenson, SNP MSP for Banffshire & Buchan Coast, has welcomed new figures that show that the NHS in Scotland treated more people than ever before from October to December 2014.

In NHS Grampian, the total number of inpatient and day case discharges in acute specialities has gone up from 34,386 in December 2013 to 35,741 in December 2014.

Across Scotland, inpatient and day case discharges in acute specialities rose by around 5000 during the last quarter of 2014 to around 395,000 – the highest number of hospital discharges on record.

Mr Stevenson said:

“NHS staff in Scotland are one of our best assets and these figures show that the standard of care in the North East has not been compromised by the challenges presented by increasing numbers of people coming through our hospitals.

“Reducing the number of people who are unnecessarily in hospital is one of the key priorities of the Scottish Government and measures such as intermediate care beds are being created to support the shift of more services into the local community.”

Today’s figures do not include intermediate care beds, however, there are now 700 intermediate care beds in Scotland which support older people and those preparing to leave hospital – 200 of which have been created this year.