DISCHARGE delays of more than three years for mental health patients uncovered by the BBC are “exceptional”, according a senior NHS Scotland official.

The broadcaster yesterday unveiled the results of an investigation which found almost 20 people have waited more than two years to leave hospital after being ruled fit for discharge.

In three health board areas, a minority of patients had to wait more than three years, while another 91 faced a 12 month delay. Opposition politicians branded the waits a “national disgrace”, with the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems all demanding Holyrood action.

However, Professor Jason Leitch, national clinical director of healthcare quality and strategy, said: “These cases are usually enormously complex, sometimes incredibly sad.

“These are not the conventional delayed discharges where the system just needs to speak to each other a bit better and we’ll get people out in three or four weeks if we just work a little harder.”

While he said such patients were fit to leave acute hospitals, he cautioned that the NHS has to “be very careful” as “their complexity means they could be a risk to themselves, to others or society”.

Though Health Secretary Shona Robison pledged to end bed blocking two years ago, Leitch said that target should not include these cases, stating: “We have men and women inside our mental health communities who are very complex and require new-build housing with 24-hour carers. That’s not something you can do a week on Tuesday, that’s something that requires planning permission. It may be that you have to adjust their house in such a way that a new house is required.

“Those individuals are being dealt with all the time by our health and social care system and they will eventually find a better location for them.”

Robison said: “No one should wait longer than absolutely necessary to leave hospital and that’s why we have legislated to integrate health and social care to ensure services are planned and commissioned in a joined up way.”