BED blocking in Scotland's hospitals fell by 10% over a year, according to new figures from the February census.

A total of 1,297 people were delayed leaving hospital despite being well enough to be discharged, down 10% compared with the 1,439 people delayed at the census point in February 2017.

The majority of patients - 1,077 - were delayed more than three days.

The most common reason for delays over three days was health and social care issues, followed by complex needs, then patient and family-related reasons.

Figures show that during February 38,394 days were spent in hospital by people whose discharge was delayed.

This is a decrease of 5% compared with 40,246 days in February 2017.

However the average number of beds occupied per day in February due to delayed discharge was 1,371 - up from 1,248 the previous month.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said the figures were encouraging.

She said: "These figures cover a period when our hospitals undoubtedly experienced significant additional demands due to the pressures we know winter brought.

"Staff deserve huge thanks for their work in supporting anyone experiencing a delay, and also patients themselves for their patience and understanding.

"Against the progress we continue to see, I expect boards to keep working hard to ensure no patient has to spend unnecessary, extra time in hospital - when treatment is complete patients should be discharged as soon as it is safe and appropriate to do so.

"To support that, we have transferred nearly half a billion pounds from the NHS into social care and integration this financial year, and the health budget will increase by almost £2 billion by the end of this Parliament."