PENSIONS Secretary Alistair Darling pledged his commitment to abolishing harsh financial rules affecting elderly hospital patients when he visited the North-East yesterday.

Mr Darling told campaigners against pensioner poverty he was fully supportive of a change to the system which had seen pensioners who stay in hospital longer than six weeks have their benefits cut.

Thousands of elderly people faced worries about paying rent and household bills while they were in hospital because the single person state pension was cut by £28.30 a week after a hospital stay of six weeks or more.

But after campaigning from the charity Age Concern, the British Medical Association and the Campaign Against Pensioners' Poverty (Capp) the rules have changed so that they only apply to hospital stays of more than 13 weeks.

David Abrahams, the North-East based director of Capp, met Mr Darling when he had lunch with members of the North-East Business Forum at St James' Park in Newcastle yesterday.

Mr Abrahams said: "It is an issue we have been concerned with so we were pleased with Mr Darling's response.

"The change is good news because it means if pensioners are in hospital longer than six weeks, they won't lose their pensions."

The new rules will come into effect with the introduction of the Pension Credit in 2003.

Older people had complained of getting into rent arrears because their housing benefit had been stopped; being confused about rules and procedures at a time when they were vulnerable and unwell and spending months after leaving hospital trying to get benefits reinstated.