An action plan has been drawn up to ease the pressure on hospital beds from elderly patients awaiting nursing home places.

Kingston and Richmond Health Authority has produced a raft of measures to help hospitals meet the demand for emergency beds over the winter months.

Health chiefs have been working with Richmonds social services department and primary care groups to tackle the issue of bed blocking.

Richmond Council received £411,000 from the Government in October to reduce waiting times by speeding up the discharge of elderly patients to nursing homes.

The health authority has also been given funding to allow it to meet its target of improving the transfer of patients by 20 per cent by the end of March.

Julie Reay, chairman of Kingston and Richmond Health Authority, said: We know that over the winter months, emergency services will face additional pressures.

We have, therefore, combined to invest over £1 million of new money given to us by Government, to enable doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, social service staff and voluntary sector workers to provide more services this winter.

The measures include the provision of extra services to care for more elderly people at home, to avoid the need for them to be admitted to hospital.

The health authority is also investing funds to provide extra beds at Teddington Memorial Hospital over the winter period and to support the conversion of the old A&E department at Kingston Hospital into an emergency 24-bed ward.

Money is also being used to pay for more nursing home beds to speed up the release of patients from hospital.

Councillor Penny Lee, cabinet member for social services at Richmond Council, said they were working hard to alleviate the current pressure on hospital beds with the money it received from the Government and by developing initiatives in partnership with health agencies.

She added: The money is being spent imaginatively on a variety of schemes to help avoid or shorten many older peoples stay in hospital this winter.

By.Helen Barnes