CASUALTY departments across Worcestershire are being given a cash boost to help cut waiting times and "bed-blocking".

The Department of Health has announced that Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust will be given a share of £9m being handed out to hospitals across the West Midlands.

The cash will help pay for at least two extra nursing posts in each accident and emergency department and will give each trust £4,100 to help modernise departments.

The money is also aimed at bringing down waiting times for patients in casualty and will help meet new targets which say 75 per cent of patients should not spend more than four hours in the department from arrival to admission or departure.

It is also hoped the money would go towards increasing the number of operations being done and free up more NHS beds.

Delayed discharging, or "bed-blocking" has become a serious problem across the county.

It normally occurs when elderly patients are well enough to leave hospital but not strong enough to return home, and need to be taken into care homes which are typically full.

The cash is the latest in a series of measures to tackle the problem.

Last month, Worcester-shire's social services department was handed £1.4m to enable it to move elderly people out of hospital beds and into residential or nursing care.

Other measures, such as a successful flu jab campaign and promotion of NHS Direct, have also been implemented to combat the pressures of winter.

"We're pleased to receive more money to improve services and we will now look at how to utilise the money to the best effect," said a spokeswoman for the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.