Scot Lib Dems reveal failure of Humza Yousaf’s extra care beds plan

Scottish Liberal Democrat MP Willie Rennie has today uncovered that Humza Yousaf’s £8 million plan to purchase 300 additional interim care beds to help tackle high number of patients trapped in hospital helped just a few dozen patients a week.

On 10th January, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf announced £8 million to be shared among Health and Social Care Partnerships which he claimed would allow them to procure 300 additional interim care beds, with the funding allowing boards to pay 25% over and above the care home rate. This funding expired at the end of March.

However analysis by Scottish Liberal Democrats and the independent Scottish Parliament Information Centre has now revealed that between Humza Yousaf’s announcement and 3rd April, on average just 42 people per week were using beds funded under the additional funding.

In March 2023, the average number of beds occupied per day by patients deemed fit to leave hospital was 1,688.

A Scottish Government spokesperson subsequently sought to claim that the government's policy was only intended to help 300 patients total across the twelve weeks, rather than 300 at any one time. However the Health Secretary told Parliament on four occasions that the money was for 300 additional beds.

Willie Rennie MSP said:

“Announcing this money was clearly designed to save Humza Yousaf from an awkward media round, not solve the problem of patients trapped in hospital. We needed a major government intervention to drive down delayed discharges, but his stunt has fallen flat.

“I have spoken with consultants who thought they weren’t placing any more in interim beds than before the announcement.

“The policy was already insufficient to tackle the scale of the problem, but the then Health Secretary didn’t even meet the very limited goal he set out.

“Humza Yousaf told Parliament at least four times that this policy involved securing 300 additional beds. To now claim that the target was about the total number of patients supported over three months is ridiculous. The government is in a tangle. It suggests that either Humza Yousaf duped parliament when he made the announcement or the government is changing the purpose of the funding after the fact.

“Government by press release is no substitute for investing in social care to deliver the long-term capacity that our system needs.”