First Minister’s Question Time – Delayed Discharge information
Reference to previously unpublished management information in First Minister’s Question Time.
During First Minister’s Question Time on 15 May 2025, Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP asked The First Minister a question on Social Care (Availability of Care Homes). In his answer, The First Minister remarked that “the level of delayed discharges is falling—it has come down from its peak by just short of 200 places”. This comment is in line with the latest unpublished weekly management information that the First Minister was aware of at the time
Public Health Scotland’s monthly statistics are the official source of delayed discharge information. NHS health boards provide data to PHS for production of these statistics, and the statistics are validated, quality assured, and meet the standards of an Accredited Official Statistics publication.
NHS health boards also supply Scottish Government with unvalidated management information on delayed discharges on a weekly basis for operational purposes. This information enables up to date monitoring of system pressures, provides ministerial assurance, and is used to identify areas in need of targeted support.
There are some important differences between the monthly Official Statistics and weekly management information on delayed discharges, described below.
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Monthly Delayed Discharge statistics (PHS) |
Weekly management information (Scottish Government) |
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Official Statistics publication |
Unpublished, restricted for internal use |
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Data is validated and quality assured |
Minimal data validation and quality assurance checks |
|
Census count of delays on the last Thursday of each month |
Census count of delays at midnight on Sunday |
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Record-level data submitted to PHS by each territorial health board |
Aggregated data submitted to Scottish Government by each territorial health board |
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Published on a 6 week lag; e.g. statistics for January are published on the first Tuesday of March. |
Weekly management information for Sunday is available to ministers on Thursday of the same week. |
The following chart shows the difference between published PHS monthly delayed discharge statistics and the weekly management information. Weekly management information indicated that on 5 May 2025, 1,840 people were delayed in hospital, 190 fewer than the highest monthly census point in Official Statistics, 2,030 in October 2024.
Source:
PHS Official Statistics: Delayed discharges in NHSScotland monthly
Weekly Management Information: previously unpublished management information, submitted to Scottish Government by NHS health boards. Data to 5 May.