The number of hospital beds available in Dumfries and Galloway has fallen by more than a fifth in the past five years.
New figures show there was an average of 313 staffed beds available in the region’s hospitals in 2021/22, down from the previous year’s figure of 327.
And it’s considerably below the 2016/17 level of 398.
Galloway and West Dumfries Tory MSP Finlay Carson said: “Bed numbers in Dumfries and Galloway remain significantly below their peak from a number of years ago.
“We know that having fewer beds continues to have a knock-on effect throughout our health service in the region, whether that is longer waits at A&E or patients being told their operation has been delayed even further.
“The continuing closure of cottage hospitals across Dumfries and Galloway is clearly having an impact and we need NHS Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Government to act to re-open or replace these facilities in our communities.
“The shortage of hospital beds in Dumfries and Galloway is unacceptable and a symptom of the SNP’s mismanagement of our health service.”
The figures from Public Health Scotland show that across the country there was an average of 13,323 beds available in 21/22 – the highest number since 2017/18.
The report states: “The number of hospital beds has been generally reducing for many years as a result of medical advances leading to shorter stays in hospital and a shift to treatment and care in a more ambulatory setting or in the community.
“Since the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been variability in hospital bed numbers as NHS boards address their service needs.”
An NHS Dumfries and Galloway spokesman said: “We’re currently operating with full bed capacity within our acute hospital settings, providing important treatment and care to those with clinical need.
“In the community settings, however, the most pressing challenge is supporting clinically well people to live as independently as possible within their own homes.
“We currently have 49 people occupying beds in cottage hospitals who no longer have a medical need to be there, but who cannot leave for reasons such as shortages of care packages, issues over guardianship, etc.
“In the last couple of years, a number of staff from our community teams have been redeployed with a shifted focus away from maintaining clinically well people in a hospital to instead providing support for them to live at home.
“This approach is helping to fulfil our ethos that people receive the right care in the right place, and that people are supported to live in their own homes as independently as possible.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson added: “Hospitals are under significant pressure as we recover from the effects of the pandemic and there is a real need for initiatives to support recovery and promote different ways of caring for patients traditionally managed in hospitals.
“We have invested £50 million towards our urgent and unscheduled care collaborative which looks to drive down A&E waits by offering alternatives to hospital.”
