HEALTH Secretary Alex Neil has signalled hospital beds will no longer be cut in Scotland.
Places for patients to sleep overnight in the NHS have been falling for years and the number of beds has dropped by 1420 since the SNP came to power.
The Scottish Government has maintained this reflects changes in medicine, with innovations allowing more patients to be treated as day cases and elderly people to recover at home.
However, speaking in Glasgow at a conference organised by trade union Unison, Mr Neil said the number of pensioners aged 75 and over is going to double in Scotland in the next 20 years.
He added: "Even if we are able to reduce by 50% the level of hospitalisation of our elderly population, we are still going to need the same number of beds, the same number of hospitals, the same number of doctors and nurses just to stand still, because this population is doubling."
The prospect of an end to cuts has been welcomed by Dr Jean Turner, a former GP who was elected as an independent MSP after campaigning against the closure of Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow.
Dr Turner, executive director of the Scotland Patients Association, said: "I would hope the minister is accepting in hindsight that the decision of many years ago to reduce hospital beds and capacity has now caught up with us and we cannot afford to do it any longer. People are living longer lives but they end up with more complex conditions."
Pressure on capacity in Scotland's hospitals led to delays in accident and emergency departments in the winter. During December about 300 patients were stuck in A&Es for more than 12 hours, many of them lying on trolleys because ward beds were not available.
This occurred even though rates of flu were not high for the time of year. The vomiting bug, norovirus, however, was particularly prevalent.
Figures released last month showed the number of hospital beds was cut by 255 during 2012, but more patients needed treatment in December – with inpatient and day cases up 2.4% on the previous year.
Jackie Baillie, health spokeswoman for Scottish Labour, said: "The NHS in Scotland is at breaking point as it is. What we don't need is more of the same.
"It's time for the SNP to be honest about the pressures within the health service and with social services. Without that honesty, we'll never be able to find the solutions we need to deal with the demographic timebomb we're facing."
Mr Neil received enthusiastic applause during his speech at the Unison conference, which was attended by delegates from across the UK.
He stressed the Scottish Government would not copy NHS reforms introduced south of the Border, which increase private sector involvement in healthcare. Mr Neil said: "By the back door, the front door, the side door, or any other door, we will not be privatising the health service in Scotland."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We have protected the NHS territorial boards' budgets and under the tenure of the current Government there has been a 24% increase in the number of consultants and an increase of 719 WTE [whole time equivalent] qualified nurses.
"This demonstrates our commitment to at least maintaining the levels of quality and provision in Scotland's NHS.
"We will continue to develop new approaches to enable us to the meet the different needs of patients, including older people, over the next 20 years."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article