A fresh call has been made to deal with the “chronic” problem of bed-blocking in the region’s hospitals.The issue of delayed discharge is set to cost the area’s NHS almost £5 million for the year 2019/20, estimates suggest.Now Labour MSP Colin Smyth has blasted a sharp rise in cases and called on the Scottish Government to tackle the issue “once and for all”.But NHS chiefs say there has been a decrease in demand for beds as the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a break in services and a fall in the number of patients passing through the doors.New figures show that the annual number of bed days lost to delayed discharge in the region sits at 19,610 for 2019/20 - up 26 per cent on last year.Data from the NHS’s own Information Services