COUNCIL chiefs in Worcestershire have been handed £490,000 to prepare for controversial "bed blocking" fines.

Worcestershire County Council's social services team can spend the cash on initiatives to stop elderly people staying in hospital "unnecessarily" after they are fit to be discharged.

But if they fail they will be hit with fines of up to £100 per night by the Government.

Worcestershire has estimated it will face fines of up to £1.8m per year.

Announcing the cash, Health Minister and Redditch MP Jacqui Smith said she did not want the new system to be about "penalising" councils.

She said the money - which has been switched from the national health budget - would give councils time to plan for the introduction of the charges in January next year.

"It is a whole system responsibility, which is why we are transferring money from health to social services departments," she said.

"Local authorities can get on with investing these extra resources in expanding older people's services.

"We have the right incentives and the right investment to ensure better care for older people."

The Government argues social services departments which do their jobs properly should have nothing to fear.

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.

But the fines system has provoked a storm of protest from councils, opposition MPs, Help the Aged and Lords.

They argue it will undermine the close working relationship between hospitals and social services departments, which have been hit by dozens of care home closures.

The lack of care home beds is the main cause of "bed blocking", as people who no longer need hospital care, but are unfit to live alone, have nowhere to go.

Ministers say the cash can be spent on providing extra beds, but they also want councils to focus on providing more care for people in their own home.