THE price-tag for delayed discharges from hospitals in Scotland has topped £1.2 billion over the last decade, Scottish Labour said today.

Despite then health secretary Shona Robison pledging to eradicate the practice in 2015, Public Heath Scotland figures show that a staggering four million bed days have been lost since 2014, racking up a bill that Scottish Labour estimates to total £1.2bn.

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “This whopping cost to the taxpayer has built up on Nicola Sturgeon’s watch and the disastrous [former] health secretary Humza Yousaf has allowed it to soar.