There are beds in nearly every large hospital blocked by elderly patients.

They cannot leave because there are not enough places in nursing homes where they could be looked after more cheaply.

Nursing homes are closing because social services departments cannot spend money on placing the elderly people with them at reasonable rates.

The Government needs to act quickly and stop this ridiculous merry-go-round, which is wasting millions of pounds each year and leading to misery.

All Health Secretary Alan Milburn has to do is to provide social services with more funding.

Millions more would have to be spent but there would be even bigger savings by freeing hospital beds.