THE region’s councils have been handed a £2m cash injection, amid growing fears of a social care crisis.

The authorities are among 125 that will share a £37m pot, which has been rushed forward ahead of a planned hand-out for the next financial year, in April.

The grants are intended to put in place extra care packages for people who are otherwise unable to be discharged from hospital – so-called ‘bed-blocking’.

They are also intended to prevent people needlessly going to hospital in the first place, perhaps because of falls or flu.

Gateshead and York councils will receive the largest sum – £325,000 – while County Durham, North Yorkshire, Redcar and Cleveland have each been given £230,000.

Both Sunderland and Newcastle get £120,000 and £75,000 allocations go to Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees and South Tyneside.

Ministers say they are targeting help on the areas where they recognise social care systems are creaking, preventing the smooth transfers of patients.

The new fund comes days after the charity Age UK warned that older people are being left “high and dry” by councils cutting back on the care they provide.

It said the numbers getting help had slumped from just over one million three years ago to 850,000 last year, piling pressure on A&E departments.

The sharp cutbacks had hit people getting help at home for tasks such as washing and dressing, day care places and meals on wheels services.

But councils protested that they had been left with little choice because they were “chronically underfunded”.

Eric Pickles, the local government secretary, said: “Social services have to be part of the solution to the high demand on hospitals at the moment.

“We know that they can help by getting people home more quickly when it is safe to do so once they have been discharged.”

The £5.3bn Better Care Fund will not get underway until April, transferring cash originally intended for the NHS to councils, to integrate health and social care services.

Mr Pickles added: “With hospitals under pressure in the cold weather this winter, we have also found extra money to help out now.”