31 January 2003
The British Medical Association said this week that the proposal should be put on hold for a year to allow councils to use the extra cash they will be given from April to strengthen local services.
The government's plans are outlined in the Community Care (Delayed Discharges) Bill, which had its second reading in the Commons this week.
Dr Andrew Dearden, chair of the BMA's community care committee, said social services had been underfunded for many years and fines would place a further burden on their finances.
'There should be an initial period of pump priming social services departments with funding to allow them to build up capacity before they are faced with penalties,' he said.
For the scheme to work, local authorities must have places in the community to which patients could be discharged, yet the number of nursing and residential home places have dropped markedly in some parts of the country. Services that allow people to be cared for in their own homes must also increase significantly, he added.
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