Delayed discharges from hospital, Scotland
Hospital bed days in Scotland occupied each month by people aged 18 and over who were clinically ready to leave, for all reasons for delay, since July 2016.
Bed days occupied by delayed discharges
59,189
Sep 2026
Verified against source, 8 November 2026, 13:13 UTCSource: Public Health Scotland. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Data table
123 periods, newest first
| Period | Bed days occupied by delayed discharges |
|---|---|
| Sep 2026 | 59,189 |
| Aug 2026 | 61,091 |
| Jul 2026 | 62,012 |
| Jun 2026 | 58,375 |
| May 2026 | 59,429 |
| Apr 2026 | 57,067 |
| Mar 2026 | 59,618 |
| Feb 2026 | 55,547 |
| Jan 2026 | 61,150 |
| Dec 2025 | 60,966 |
| Nov 2025 | 59,150 |
| Oct 2025 | 61,410 |
| Sep 2025 | 58,647 |
| Aug 2025 | 60,888 |
| Jul 2025 | 59,764 |
| Jun 2025 | 55,793 |
| May 2025 | 57,399 |
| Apr 2025 | 55,620 |
| Mar 2025 | 60,129 |
| Feb 2025 | 54,487 |
| Jan 2025 | 60,872 |
| Dec 2024 | 61,706 |
| Nov 2024 | 60,696 |
| Oct 2024 | 62,914 |
| Sep 2024 | 59,033 |
| Aug 2024 | 62,003 |
| Jul 2024 | 61,165 |
| Jun 2024 | 59,485 |
| May 2024 | 60,196 |
| Apr 2024 | 57,433 |
| Mar 2024 | 58,646 |
| Feb 2024 | 54,355 |
| Jan 2024 | 57,860 |
| Dec 2023 | 58,258 |
| Nov 2023 | 56,811 |
| Oct 2023 | 56,762 |
| Sep 2023 | 54,342 |
| Aug 2023 | 55,709 |
| Jul 2023 | 56,138 |
| Jun 2023 | 51,905 |
| May 2023 | 54,077 |
| Apr 2023 | 51,327 |
| Mar 2023 | 54,046 |
| Feb 2023 | 51,732 |
| Jan 2023 | 56,826 |
| Dec 2022 | 58,211 |
| Nov 2022 | 58,501 |
| Oct 2022 | 58,826 |
| Sep 2022 | 54,960 |
| Aug 2022 | 55,753 |
| Jul 2022 | 55,992 |
| Jun 2022 | 50,340 |
| May 2022 | 52,914 |
| Apr 2022 | 53,604 |
| Mar 2022 | 53,600 |
| Feb 2022 | 47,713 |
| Jan 2022 | 52,678 |
| Dec 2021 | 47,177 |
| Nov 2021 | 46,894 |
| Oct 2021 | 50,185 |
| Sep 2021 | 48,436 |
| Aug 2021 | 46,171 |
| Jul 2021 | 42,364 |
| Jun 2021 | 37,136 |
| May 2021 | 35,348 |
| Apr 2021 | 32,600 |
| Mar 2021 | 33,840 |
| Feb 2021 | 30,450 |
| Jan 2021 | 35,173 |
| Dec 2020 | 33,343 |
| Nov 2020 | 33,463 |
| Oct 2020 | 33,256 |
| Sep 2020 | 32,959 |
| Aug 2020 | 32,318 |
| Jul 2020 | 28,377 |
| Jun 2020 | 23,729 |
| May 2020 | 21,225 |
| Apr 2020 | 20,293 |
| Mar 2020 | 45,009 |
| Feb 2020 | 46,875 |
| Jan 2020 | 47,529 |
| Dec 2019 | 45,404 |
| Nov 2019 | 44,915 |
| Oct 2019 | 46,240 |
| Sep 2019 | 45,632 |
| Aug 2019 | 46,897 |
| Jul 2019 | 45,396 |
| Jun 2019 | 42,252 |
| May 2019 | 45,061 |
| Apr 2019 | 40,994 |
| Mar 2019 | 43,419 |
| Feb 2019 | 40,813 |
| Jan 2019 | 43,863 |
| Dec 2018 | 42,732 |
| Nov 2018 | 43,918 |
| Oct 2018 | 47,302 |
| Sep 2018 | 45,470 |
| Aug 2018 | 43,672 |
| Jul 2018 | 43,511 |
| Jun 2018 | 42,375 |
| May 2018 | 43,244 |
| Apr 2018 | 41,453 |
| Mar 2018 | 42,628 |
| Feb 2018 | 38,394 |
| Jan 2018 | 40,152 |
| Dec 2017 | 41,898 |
| Nov 2017 | 42,320 |
| Oct 2017 | 44,494 |
| Sep 2017 | 42,110 |
| Aug 2017 | 41,632 |
| Jul 2017 | 40,667 |
| Jun 2017 | 39,252 |
| May 2017 | 39,651 |
| Apr 2017 | 40,925 |
| Mar 2017 | 41,493 |
| Feb 2017 | 40,246 |
| Jan 2017 | 44,222 |
| Dec 2016 | 45,067 |
| Nov 2016 | 45,639 |
| Oct 2016 | 48,104 |
| Sep 2016 | 45,074 |
| Aug 2016 | 45,551 |
| Jul 2016 | 43,919 |
Source and licence
- Publisher
- Public Health Scotland
- Check it yourself
- https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/delayed-discharges-in-nhsscotland-monthly/
- Licence
- Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Retrieved
- 8 November 2026, 13:08 UTC
- Raw files fetched
- https://www.opendata.nhs.scot/dataset/delayed-discharges-in-nhsscotlandSHA-256 3d83e96147d0c59a748570af391abbfd25c56e4ee4a686dcc672d8cafa3b5d35 · 36,810 bytes
- https://www.opendata.nhs.scot/dataset/52591cba-fd71-48b2-bac3-e71ac108dfee/resource/fd354e4b-6211-48ba-8e4f-8356a5ed4215/download/2026-09_delayed-discharge-beddays-health-board.csvSHA-256 c5cee8f086b153d9efe1be30a9b8d1eed96722bfb6d9e37609403b4a8e7fc826 · 1,542,701 bytes
Verification
Verified against source, 8 November 2026, 13:13 UTC Run at 8 November 2026, 13:13 UTC; 123 of 123 figures matched the live source.
| Result | Check | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | Provenance recorded | Public Health Scotland; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-11-08T13:08:17Z; 2 raw file(s) |
| Pass | Raw files match recorded SHA-256 | 2 of 2 files intact |
| Pass | Re-parsing raw files reproduces figures | 123 of 123 figures and the headline reproduced |
| Pass | Figures are finite numbers | 123 figures, 0 invalid |
| Pass | Live source matches every figure | 123 of 123 figures match exactly after downloading 2 source file(s) again (2 byte-identical); the headline matches |
| Pass | Public Health Scotland file is current | latest period 2026-09 ended 39 days before retrieval (limit 100) |
| Pass | Health boards sum to Scotland | 123 of 123 figures match the 14 boards summed in the stored file |
| Pass | Council area file agrees | 123 of 123 figures match the Scotland rows of https://www.opendata.nhs.scot/dataset/52591cba-fd71-48b2-bac3-e71ac108dfee/resource/513d2d71-cf73-458e-8b44-4fa9bccbf50a/download/2026-09_delayed-discharge-beddays-council-area.csv |
| Pass | Council areas sum to Scotland | 123 of 123 figures match the council areas summed in https://www.opendata.nhs.scot/dataset/52591cba-fd71-48b2-bac3-e71ac108dfee/resource/513d2d71-cf73-458e-8b44-4fa9bccbf50a/download/2026-09_delayed-discharge-beddays-council-area.csv |
| Pass | Source page answers | https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/delayed-discharges-in-nhsscotland-monthly/ – HTTP 200 |
Notes
- A delayed discharge is a hospital patient clinically ready to leave who is still in hospital. England publishes no comparable monthly count of bed days.