THE family of an elderly pensioner who has been stuck in York District Hospital for three months are outraged that no nursing home place has been found for her.

Freda Smith, 80, had been living in the Tanpit Lodge nursing home in Easingwold, suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, when she suffered a fall and was taken to the hospital for a routine check-up on June 15.

Her daughter-in-law, Elaine Smith, who lives on a farm at Husthwaite, said the hospital found nothing wrong with her mother-in-law, and yet she is still "bed-blocked" on Ward 37.

Elaine said: "It is absolutely ridiculous that she is still in hospital, there is no need for her to be there. It will be costing whoever a lot more money to keep her there than it would do to move her to a nursing home."

Mrs Smith cannot return to Tanpit Lodge, because her needs are deemed to be too great.

But Elaine said the only reason she is still there is because there is no funding to put her somewhere else.

She said her father-in-law Jack, 80, who also lives on the farm, cannot see his wife very often because it is such a long way for him to travel and it is causing him unnecessary distress. Elaine said she was astounded when she read recently in Evening Press that £700,000 had been made available by North Yorkshire Health Authority to solve the short-term problem of bed-blocking in the county.

She added: "There doesn't appear to be any money to move Doris. It is absolutely ridiculous that we can't have her nearer home and that someone who needs that bed in hospital can have it."

A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire County Council said: "I can confirm that Mrs Smith has been assessed as needing nursing care and is awaiting the allocation of funding.

"North Yorkshire County Council social services are currently experiencing difficulties in meeting the demand for residential and nursing care from the current budget allocation, therefore a quota system is in operation to ensure that funding is allocated first to those most at risk in their current situation.

"The directorate regrets that this action is necessary and apologises for the distress which is being experienced by the families."

But she added every effort was being made to ensure that the extra funding recently made available by the health authority was used to best effect.

Updated: 11:16 Tuesday, September 11, 2001