THE lack of county hospital beds has once again been highlighted with up to 80 patients filling emergency places.

Hospital and social services chiefs have admitted they are under renewed strain with the so-called bed blockers.

These are patients who should be in nursing homes taking up much-needed acute beds.

Health Concern prospective parliamentary candidate Dr Richard Taylor castigated Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust for not releasing figures on the number of staffed beds in the county.

It is still not known how many of the 192 acute beds lost at downgraded Kidderminster Hospital have been replaced in Worcestershire.

Dr Taylor said: "The health trust and authority are not telling us. They may have the beds but they certainly do not have the staff to man them."

Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff has demanded Government intervention to throw Worcestershire Acute NHS Hospitals Trust a lifeline.

In a letter to Health Secretary Alan Milburn he said: "This is having serious consequences for the management of emergency admissions to both the Worcester and Redditch sites."

Worcestershire Health Authority chief executive Pat Archer Jones admitted a significant rise in emergency admission levels had placed a strain on hospitals.

"This comes at a time when nine or 10 per cent of beds are occupied by patients who would be cared for more appropriately at a community hospital, nursing home or at home.

County councillor Peter Pinfield, head of social services, blamed a crop of people with respiratory problems, saying damp weather had led to the increase.

He put the bed blocker number at 85.

He said: "Although numbers have increased, we're meeting our target of 10 places a week and so is the health authority. Thirty patients were transferred last week for example."