Number of Delayed Discharges Over 3 Days Due to Health and Social Care & Patient and Family Related Reasons

Identifying Attributes

Care Settings
Care Transitions
Country
Scotland
Publishing Organisation
Public Health Scotland: Delayed Discharges in NHS Scotland
Type of Quality Indicator
Process
IOM Quality Dimension
Efficiency
Domain
Hospitalisation

Defining Attributes

Definition

Number of delayed discharges over 3 days due to health and social care & patient and family related reasons.

Numerator

Number of delayed discharges over 3 days due to health and social care & patient and family related reasons. Health and social care reasons are where a person remains inappropriately in hospital after treatment is complete and is awaiting appropriate arrangements to be made by the health and social care partnership for safe discharge. Patient, family and carer related reasons includes delays due to legal reasons and disagreements.

Denominator

This is a continuous variable measure. The target population is people with a delayed discharge due to health and social care & patient and family related reasons (inferred).

Exclusions

Inter-hospital transfers and people being appropriately treated in intermediate care or non-hospital facilities.

Use of Risk Adjustment
No
Risk Adjustments
Stratifications

Data Attributes

Type of Data Collection
Administrative data
Data Collection Methods

Public Health Scotland (PHS) delayed discharge monthly data submission. Collects data on The number of people delayed as at a monthly census snapshot. Information provided includes: reason for delay, location of delay and delay length. NHS Boards are required to submit one national data return containing: Details of ALL patients delayed for one or more days within the calendar month. The reporting period covers from 00:00 on the 1st calendar day of the month to 23:59 on the last calendar day of the month.

Frequency of Data Collection
Monthly
Frequency of Data Collection in Days
30
Reporting Methods

Public Health Scotland produces Delayed discharges in NHS Scotland annually and monthly. Also reported on NHS performs website.

Reporting Frequency
Monthly and annually
Reporting Frequency in Days
30-365
Indicator Has Recommended Targets
No

Source and Reference Attributes

Technical Specifications
Link to Measurement Tools
Quality Indicator Confirmed to be Part of a Program Used to Monitor Quality and Safety of Care Among Older People at a Population-Level between 2012-2022
Yes
Assessed by the Australian Consortium for Aged Care Collaborators as Generally Containing Good Properties (Importance and Scientific Acceptability)
No
Australian Consortium for Aged Care Endorsed
No
Identified by PHARMA-Care Project
No
Upload Date
12 March 2025