Scottish Government failures on social care are being blamed for landing Highlands and Islands NHS boards with a near £154 million bill over the last decade.
A freedom of information (FOI) request by Scottish Labour uncovered the cost to hospitals of failing to clear beds occupied by medically fit to leave patients.
The FOI showed that delayed discharge had cost the Highlands and Islands area £153,939,479 in the last 10 years, with more than five million bed days lost
A delayed discharge is classed as being when a patient is well enough to leave the hospital but is unable to do so for non-medical reasons.
This can be blamed on a number of factors, including lack of access to necessary care, support, or accommodation; lack of funding for a care home place, legal matters or complex care needs.
Across Scotland, 566,533 bed days have been lost to delayed discharge since March 2015, when then-Health Secretary Shona Robison pledged to “eradicate” the problem.
Past Scottish health secretary Shona Robison.
Rhoda Grant, Scottish Labour MSP for the Highlands and Islands, said: “Local services are stretched to breaking point, but NHS boards in the Highlands and Islands have had to pour £153,939,479 down the drain because of the SNP’s failure to tackle delayed discharge.
“The SNP has had 17 years to fix our broken social care system, but instead they have wasted a further £30 million on a failed National Care Service Bill that did not pay for a single extra carer.
“While some patients are trapped in hospital despite being ready to leave, others are languishing in corridors because there aren’t enough beds.
“The UK Labour Budget delivered a record settlement to Scotland – now the SNP must ensure that every penny is spent wisely so NHS services in the Highlands and Islands can run smoothly again.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Highland claimed the health authority was working to tackle the issue.
She said: “Everyone deserves to be cared for in the right place when they are unwell or need support.
“We know that people retain more independence and recover more quickly at home or in a homely environment, once they no longer need acute hospital care.
“In Highland, a number of issues make providing support outwith hospitals challenging: our remote and rural geography and pressures on housing and job markets play a part.
“To tackle this, NHS Highland is committed to proactively seeking the best discharge option for each patient ready to leave hospital and exploring how and where we need to move resources across the system to support care in the community.
“To reduce the number of people in delay in hospital we have plans to engage with partners to support more people to remain in their own homes, while opening extra beds across our care homes in the coming year.
“We welcome the support and input of communities and providers as we work to reshape access to support for people to retain their independence for as long as they can and to access care as locally as possible.”