The Scottish Government Quarterly Monitoring Return has highlighted that 40 per cent of over 65s with critical or substantial needs are waiting longer than 6 weeks for social care assessment.
The damning report, which covers January – March each year, also revealed more than a tenth are waiting beyond six weeks for service delivery.
It’s the latest set of statistics exposing the crisis in social care across the country.
Shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said it was proof the SNP government wasn’t protecting vulnerable people who require health and social care packages.
The figures also showed 22 per cent of all people waited more than six weeks for assessment, equalling 1924 people between January and March.
And six per cent even waited beyond that limit for services after assessment, equalling 525 people.
If these figures are applied to a full year, this would mean that 7696 patients per year are waiting over 6 weeks for care assessments and 2100 per year are waiting over 6 weeks for the delivery of social care.
These delays will be contributing to considerable anxiety for patients, as well as blocking beds in overcrowded hospitals, and will be putting a strain on family carers and primary care services such as GPs.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary, Miles Briggs said:
"Social care patients must be supported in the most suitable settings.
“However, at present many patients are facing an unacceptably long wait for social care packages.
“In some cases this lack of co-ordination will delay their hospital discharge and in other cases patients are forced to live in completely unsuitable and unsupported environments.
“For patients, carers and family members it is extremely distressing waiting this long for assessment and care packages.
"In addition, GPs and other primary care services have to shoulder much of the caring burden during this time, and they are already under extreme pressure.
"The figures show that the Scottish Government has clearly failed to ensure that patients requiring social and personal care are identified and supported in a timely and comprehensive way.
“In contrast the Scottish Conservatives have been calling for meaningful joint working and information sharing; working with housing associations, encouraging data sharing with pharmacies and developing partnerships between the ambulance service, health and social care services and the third sector.”