PENSIONERS in Worcestershire are to be handed hundreds of pounds to allow them to live at home - rather than taking up a hospital bed.

The move, which was due to be announced by Health Secretary Alan Milburn this afternoon, aims to reduce "bed-blocking".

The money will be given to pay for care at home for pensioners prepared to leave hospital.

Hospitals in the county have long-running problems with delayed discharge - which happens when the patient is well enough to leave hospital but still needs some nursing care or home help.

Recent figures from the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust have revealed at any one time, more than 60 patients are caught up in "bed-blocking". It aims to have around 25.

If this cannot be arranged through the local authority, then the patient has to stay in hospital until it is.

This has a knock-on effect on the services offered by those hospitals involved. They might have to cancel operations or turn away other patients because spare beds are taken up by patients who could be sent home.

The exact sums available for arranging home care have not yet been confirmed.

The Department of Health said they would be "one-off payments". But the patients will be able to exercise some choice over how they spend the cash. It could pay for extra nursing care, or adaptations to homes. These could include fitting ramps, rails or stairlifts.

The move will be funded from the £1bn set aside for the elderly from Chancellor Gordon Brown's Comprehensive Spending Review last week.

It is part of a sustained Government drive to tackle "bed-blocking" - which has been blamed on the closure of dozens of care homes across the region.

Earlier this year, Ministers announced plans to fine social services departments which fail to cure the problem.

Mr Milburn said councils would be given a bill for each day an elderly patient spends in hospital "unnecessarily". This could be as much as £225 per day.