Don't blame OAPs for your failures on bed blocking

Health service chief branded 'out of touch'

- BY HANNAH RODGER

A HEALTH service boss has been accused of blaming vulnerable and elderly patients for a bed blocking crisis on wards.

It comes after NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde nurse director Angela Wallace claimed in a social media post that a third of patients stuck in hospital were there as they didn't have a power of attorney set up.

Furious union leaders and politicians have said it is an attempt to shift blame for the lack of services onto patients.

They also insisted power of attorney - a legal document which costs about £400 and gives a close relatives the right to make welfare decisions - would only help in a small number of cases.

Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: "The driving cause of delayed discharge is the SNP's woeful failure to support social care and it is baffling to see NHSGGC trying to deflect blame and putting the onus on patients and families.