HEALTH chiefs have announced a £700,000 cash injection to move up to 100 patients out of congested hospitals and into private nursing homes.

The money from North Yorkshire Health Authority is aiming to help patients, whose discharge from hospital has been delayed, to be transferred to nursing and residential homes.

People who are waiting for a place in a private nursing home currently take up 128 beds in hospitals across the county.

The highest figure is at York District Hospital, which has 55 beds blocked.

Barrie Fisher, chief executive of the North Yorkshire Health Authority, said: "There is an urgent need to tackle this problem. This initiative will not solve the problem of delayed discharges in the medium to long-term - we are simply tackling the immediate log-jam by paying for people to go to a nursing or residential home as soon as possible."

But the move was criticised by nursing home owner Tony Tate, of Laurens Manor, in York, who said it was too little, too late.

"This is not enough to solve the problem. We are not being paid enough money to care for the people and more and more nursing homes are going out of business," he said.