SNP aims to create 'biggest hospital in Scotland' with 2,000 extra beds at home
SNP ministers will boost targeted care at home with an extra 2,000 beds by the end of 2026 in a bid to create the “biggest hospital in Scotland” to tackle delayed discharge.
If passed by MSPs, the Scottish Government’s Budget will provide an extra £100 million to create the extra capacity for Hospital at Home which aims to provide hospital-level care without patients having to be admitted.
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The targeted intervention provides a level of short-term acute hospital care in a patient’s home. The service must provide a hospital specialist acting as senior decision maker and responsible medical officer, care delivered by multidisciplinary teams, urgent access to diagnostics and management of more severe conditions.
But concerns have been raised after Scotland’s largest health board, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, suspended its Hospital at Home project despite having cared for more than 1,000 patients since 2022, including 235 between November 2023 and February 2024.
SNP ministers have struggled in recent years with high levels of delayed discharge – where patients are well enough to go home but other issues such as a lack of a social care package means they cannot be released.
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The Scottish Government’s Budget provides a £100m boost for Hospital at Home, in the hopes of increasing capacity to 2,000 beds by the end of 2026.
SNP social care minister, Maree Todd, said delayed discharge is a “key priority” for the Scottish Government.
Speaking in Fife, she said: “More than 96 per cent of all hospital discharges happen without delay but we are working with local health partners and local government to find solutions for those that don’t and address the variation we are seeing across Scotland.
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“Our Budget for 2025-26, if approved by parliament, will provide £200m to help clear waiting list backlogs, improve capacity and remove blockages that keep some patients in hospital longer than necessary.
“Once someone has been assessed as well enough to be discharged from hospital, the best place for them to be is at home, supported by a bespoke care package.”
She added: “This can be delivered by services for older people such as Hospital at Home, and evidence shows that those benefiting from it are more likely to avoid hospital or care home stays for up to six months after an acute illness.
“We want to expand that service to make it the ‘biggest hospital in Scotland’, providing the very best care, in the comfort of a patient’s own home or home-like setting.”
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Hide AdBut the British Medical Association has warned that the funding will be meaningless without “a long-term vision for the whole of the NHS”.
Dr Iain Kennedy, chairman of BMA Scotland, said: “There is no doubt delayed discharge is a huge issue that needs to be tackled.
“It’s no good for patients, the people caring for them, or the NHS for people to be stuck in a hospital bed when they are ready to go home or be cared for elsewhere.
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Hide Ad“By necessity and as the problem is so prevalent and enduring in our hospitals, there must be investment in relieving the major issues with patient flow this issue causes. But such funding simply must be accompanied by a long-term vision for the whole of the NHS that, as Audit Scotland have pointed out, is completely lacking.
“For example, one of the country’s largest boards has suspended hospital at home right on the cusp of winter, which seems contrary to the thrust of the strategy being promoted.”
He added: “So, alongside this type of funding, the health service urgently needs better planning and a clear vision for reform to deliver improvements across the board and considering all parts of the NHS – including crucially general practice and social care - for the long term.
“It’s only with this kind of comprehensive vision that we’ll really get to the root of tackling delayed discharge and the myriad other problems the health service faces.”
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Hide AdPolitical opponents have also issued warnings about the long-standing delayed discharge and social care problems.


Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour's health spokesperson, said: "It seems the SNP has finally listened to our repeated call to prioritise delayed discharge.
"More funding is not just welcome but essential when, as we enter a cold winter, delayed discharge is at a record high leaving patients in limbo and others waiting in hospital corridors.
"But the Scottish Government is clearing up its own mess — it's nearly a decade since the SNP promised and failed to end delayed discharge yet instead it has wasted time and money on its discredited National Care Service Bill which has not paid for a single extra carer or care package.
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Hide Ad"The SNP must work with those delivering frontline care to create a genuine safety net for those who are well enough to leave hospital but need help and support at home.”
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary, Dr Sandesh Gulhane, said: “In ramping up this scheme, the SNP are effectively saying what we all know, they’ve failed when it comes to tackling delayed discharge.


“While this might ease some pressure on hospitals, successive SNP health secretaries have been asleep at the wheel while delayed discharge has hit record levels.
“Almost a decade on since Shona Robison promised to eradicate delayed discharge, it is clear the SNP have no vision for our NHS.
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Hide Ad“Instead Maree Todd’s been squandering tens of millions on a botched national care service that was doomed from the start and will do nothing to deliver care to patients right now.
“And if the SNP fails to ensure the expansion of the scheme is properly funded, then it will do little to tackle the appalling levels of delayed discharge.”
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