HUNDREDS of elderly and disabled people may have received the wrong care during the past decade, because the Government failed to reassess them.

Darlington Borough Council now faces re-assessing 212 people living in care homes and nursing homes in the town, and paying out for any extra care they need.

There are also an estimated 88 such patients in Hartlepool, and another 200 in Newcastle.

The people are all either elderly, have mental health problems, are physically disabled or have learning disabilities.

After the Government brought in the NHS and Community Care Act, in 1993, these people were given preserved rights, which meant their care continued to be funded by the Department of Social Security (DSS).

However, the Government has now decided the patients should all be re-assessed and local authorities must pick up the tab.

Colin Morris, director of Darlington Social Services, said the council did not know the 212 preserved rights patients existed until eight days ago, when their details were faxed through by the DSS.

His department must re-assess them and find appropriate care for those who need different facilities from the care they were given ten years ago.

"There were apparently 252 of these people a year ago, but some have died and now there are 212, so they are people with quite high needs," he said.

"It's a total unknown quantity, we have no idea until we have assessed them what their needs are and how much it is all going to cost.

"The Government will continue to pay whatever the DSS has been paying for each patient, but obviously some of their needs will have changed and we have to pay that extra cost.

"Even if we had the financial resources to do all of this we don't have the manpower. We have to assess them by April 8, 2002, which is a massive task.

"We are going to try to get it done, because we have a responsibility.

"It will increase the number of people in our care by 50 per cent, which is a massive amount and will put a strain on an already very tight budget."