Care home bosses are to hold crisis talks over the plight of elderly people who cannot find a place.

The East Sussex Residential Care Homes Association has revealed 533 pensioners, some with mental health problems, are on the waiting list for residential care.

Many are said to be occupying vital hospital beds while they await funding.

The association says it will reveal the scale of the problem at a crunch meeting later this month.

Lack of funding for care homes has also hit the recruitment of carers.

There are currently 376 priority cases on the waiting list for places. Association chairman Tony Andrews said: "The community care budget is now £3.3 million overcommitted and causing bed blocking in our hospitals.

"This is because the vulnerable elderly and those with mental health problems are waiting for social services funding to get them into residential care.

"This dire situation is also stopping other residents getting the hospital treatment they need, and all because East Sussex County Council set an underfunded budget.

"It is our vulnerable elderly who are now paying the price of those members' incompetence."

The situation has become more desperate with many of the county's hospitals expecting a beds crisis with the threat of a winter flu epidemic.