Lack of care homes blamed for delays in discharge of old people

An acute shortage of places in care homes means that the government is likely to miss its target of speeding up the discharge of elderly patients by 2004, the National Audit Office said this week. Four thousand elderly people each day remain in hospitals throughout England despite being declared fit to leave, at an estimated cost to the government of £1m ($1.6m; €1.5m) a day. …