A MAJOR new strategy to try to solve severe bedblocking, which is costing the council and NHS millions of pounds, is to be launched in Birmingham.

It includes a 12-point action plan developed by the health scrutiny committee after the city was shamed for unacceptable levels.

Plans aim to get NHS and social services teams working better together, cutting numbers of people sent from care homes and GPs to hospital and pooling cash to use it more effectively.

Bed-blocking, also called delayed transfers of care, is when healthy patients are stuck in a hospital bed because social services has nowhere for them to go, or has not arranged a care package.

Birmingham City Council faces a s2.2 million bill this year in bed-blocking fines as hospitals can claim s100 for every day a patient is stuck in a bed.

Social services boss Coun Sue Anderson has held talks with hospital chiefs to reintroduce a contract where they forego fines so all cash is pumped into services to reduce delays instead.