CARE in the community was not available for 85 patients ready for discharge from County Durham hospitals in February.

Of those, 28 were the responsibility of Darlington social services, which is being scrutinised by the Social Services Inspectorate and the Strategic Health Authority because of an unexpected rise in the number of delayed transfers.

An action plan is to be developed to try to solve the problem.

John Saxby, chief executive of the County Durham and Darlington Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "The figures are pretty disappointing.

"We have 85 people in hospital beds who don't need to be there and who should be somewhere else. Although we are managing, this is not ideal.

"The fact is we have the equivalent of three wards of patients who don't need continuing medical care and would be better in a nursing or residential homes, their own homes or a community hospital.

"People do get hospital-acquired infections and sometimes they shouldn't be there in the first place.".

Laura Robson, newly-appointed director of nursing, said the delays were a major risk to the trust's ability to manage its bed space for patients needing emergency care or coming in for planned operations.

As from April 1, a charge of about £100 could be made for each day a patient was delayed, but she did not see that as a money-making opportunity for the trust.

"It is preferred that this charge is seen as an incentive to enable a safe, effective and timely discharge for patients to the right place to meet their individual needs," she added