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First Minister pledges to tackle delayed discharges and relieve winter pressures
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has spoken out about the winter pressures the NHS is facing and the actions being taken to mitigate and address these .
Joined by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care , Humza Yousaf , and Deputy Chief Medical Officer , Graham Ellis , on 9 January , she said that the Scottish Government recognises that this has been one of the worst winters for the NHS and that , while there has been a decrease , hospital backlogs still remain significant .
The First Minister also said that hospitals across the country are almost ‘ completely full ’, with hospital bed occupancy across Scotland exceeding 95 % ( as of the first week in January ).
While acknowledging that NHS staff ‘ continue to deliver excellent care , truly excellent care , for thousands of patients each and every single day ’, she stressed that ‘ in some key areas , the system is not currently providing patients with the speed of treatment that we want to see ’.
She said : ‘ While we have seen a slight reduction in delayed discharges in the most recent weeks , there are , however , more than 1,700 people currently in hospital who don ’ t need to be there – and whose interests are not best served by being there – because care packages that would allow them to be discharged home or to a care home are not in place .’
‘ That obviously makes it harder to find beds for new patients who need to be admitted – and this creates pressure at the front end of the patient The first week of 2023 journey .’ saw hospital bed
To tackle this , the occupancy exceeded government is looking to increase the Hospital
95 % at Home and See and Treat initiatives , along with addressing delayed discharge .
In October , an additional in Scotland
£ 600 million was provided specifically to augment health and social care capacity over the winter . This included funding to recruit up to 750 extra nurses , midwives and allied health professionals from overseas , as well as 250 support staff across acute , primary care and mental health .
Further actions to tackle the pressures on the NHS will be implemented sooner than planned . These include the launch of an NHS24 app to help with self-care at home and further recruitment to NHS24 .
The First Minister also announced immediate funding for health and social care partnerships to support the booking of additional care home beds for patients to be discharged to while their care packages are being finalised .
For the full statement visit : https :// bit . ly / 3HA 7KFa .
New guidance on the provision of equipment and adaptations in Scotland released
Following a public consultation exercise , new guidance on the provision of equipment and adaptations in Scotland was published on 17 January 2023 .
The guidance outlines the responsibilities of all relevant agencies , with the aim of supporting partnerships , across Scotland , to deliver a more equitable and accessible approach to the provision of equipment and adaptations .
The overall aims are to : remove barriers in the systems , promoting seamless pathways that are consistent and equitable across the country ; ensure services evidence that the service user and unpaid carer are at the centre of provision ; and enable choice and control for service users and unpaid carers as partners in the process of assessment and support planning .
The guidance also aims to focus service provision on supporting the achievement of successful outcomes for the individual , and where relevant , their unpaid carer , and endorse a consistent approach to the assessment for , and provision of , equipment and adaptations , which promotes prevention and early intervention , and supports self-management .
Ensuring that service users and unpaid carers have access to up to date and relevant information on equipment and adaptations and promoting good practice and effective partnership working in relation to equipment and adaptation provision is also high on the agenda . The full guidance document is available at
www . gov . scot / publications / guidance-provisionequipment-adaptations-2 /.
February 2023 OTnews 13