BED blocking at hospitals in York and Selby is to be tackled thanks to a £300,000 cash boost.

The latest figures show that 39 beds at York District Hospital are occupied by patients who are well enough to be discharged - but no funding is available to place them in a nursing or residential home.

The same problem occurs with non-acute beds, with 20 currently blocked at hospitals in North Yorkshire, including Selby War Memorial Hospital.

Although the total number of acute delayed transfers has reduced from 50 in July to 39 in August, and non-acute from 22 to 20, it is set to drop even further.

Now work is under way to improve the quality of life of patients forced to live in hospital until a sustainable solution to the overall problem can be found.

North Yorkshire Health Authority has committed £700,000 to fund the transfer of patients from hospital wards to nursing or residential homes - a task normally undertaken by the local authority.

Of the total funds allocated, £300,000 has been made available to York and Selby.

At a board meeting of the York Health Services NHS Trust yesterday, members heard how talks were under way between the Trust, social services and the health authority to find a sustainable solution.

And they also discussed how to improve the quality of life of those patients, including seeking help from the Community Health Council to suitable organise activities.

George Wood, deputy chief executive of the York Trust, said: "We are now starting to see the first lot of movements as a consequence of the £300,000 allocated by the health authority to support nursing home places.

"It is normally something a local authority does, but because we had so many people and it was causing a problem the authority decided to put some money in themselves.

"It happened last year and a number of health authorities are doing the same."

Mr Wood said short-term improvements were also needed.

He said: "We are concerned for the patients who find themselves in effect living in hospital.

"Careful thought is needed as to what we might do to improve the quality of life."

Updated: 11:01 Thursday, September 27, 2001