The NHS in Scotland is under enormous strain. Three health boards north of the border have stopped non-urgent elective care as the crisis worsens. Urgent treatment and cancer care is being prioritised as patient demand continues to rise past unmanageable levels. The last time we saw this happening was during the pandemic. What’s going so wrong?

One of the major issues in Scottish hospitals is bed-blocking: wards are full of patients who can’t be discharged. This means there is no room for those who turn up to A&E requiring overnight admission.

The shocking part, though, is that many of those patients stuck in hospitals don’t need to be there. On average, there are 1,950 delayed discharges in Scottish hospitals each day. The number of people medically fit for discharge (which is a little different than being ‘medically fit’) is increasing. So, too, is the number of patients waiting over 12 hours in emergency departments.

These patients, fit for discharge but confined to hospital beds, remain on the wards not because there are issues with hospital transport or finding staff to help move them, but because the social care in Scotland is grinding to a halt. Claire Burden, chief executive of NHS Ayrshire & Arran, one of the health boards stopping elective treatment, told staff: ‘These pressures are also being faced in our social care services across East, North and South Ayrshire. In particular, Care at Home services in the three health and social care partnerships are being particularly affected by increases in demand, as well as workforce challenges.’

And it’s true: Scotland’s hospitals are at occupancy levels of 95 per cent as of last Wednesday. A number of junior doctors in Scotland told me about how their wards were filling up, and many patients, who were no longer requiring hospital treatment, were unable to leave.

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