TORY MPs today attacked a radical Government decision to impose "fines" on North Yorkshire social services departments which fail to cure "bed blocking".

Health Secretary Alan Milburn said councils would be given a bill - which could be as much as £225 each day an elderly patient spends in hospital "unnecessarily".

The bombshell announcement follows the Government's Budget pledge to increase social services funding by six per cent.

Mr Milburn said this investment must be accompanied by reform - with City of York and North Yorkshire County Council taking financial responsibility for finding care home places for the elderly.

At present, the NHS is left to pick up the bill for patients who are fit to leave hospital care but have nowhere else to go. This "bed blocking" is also forcing up waiting lists.

The Health Secretary warned: "If bed blocking goes up, councils will incur the cost the costs of keeping older people in hospital unnecessarily."

However Ryedale Conservative MP John Greenway said the move failed to recognise the Government had caused the problems in the first place by imposing tough new rules on care homes which have led to a raft of closures in North Yorkshire.

He added: "The Government is going to punish councils for its own mistakes and lack of urgency.

"Councils will be furious, and so will the elderly people who live in care homes and know they are doing their best to find them places."

Vale of York MP Anne McIntosh said: "It is beyond belief that the Government brought in care home standards which reduced the number of care home places and is now planning to penalise councils for the problems caused by this decision."

Meanwhile, City of York Labour MP Hugh Bayley defended the move. He said: "At the moment social services has no incentive to get people out of hospital because the health service picks up the cost.

"This is part of the answer, although the Government must make sure there are enough beds available locally to meet demand."

Ministers are planning to meet the Local Government Association to agree an estimated cost to the NHS of a night in hospital, along with a target time for councils to find a care home place for a person who is fit to be discharged from hospital.

For example, the estimated time limit could be set at five days and the cost per night at £200.

Individual councils would then be allocated £1,000 to cover the cost of each elderly patient who has to stay in hospital.

If they find a home for the patients within three days of them being fit to be discharged, they will pay £600 to the hospital and keep the remaining £400 to spend on other services.

But if social services staff fail to find a place in a home within five days, they will give the full £1,000 to the hospital - plus £200 for every extra night they spend in the care of the NHS.

This could lead to councils having to find thousands of pounds from other social services priorities to pay the fines.

Updated: 16:33 Thursday, April 18, 2002