BED-BLOCKING is a complicated problem that cannot be solved in a heartbeat.

But why are we seeing so little satisfactory progress after so many months of effort and promises by the health and social services to tackle it?

The latest plan to cut the number of people who are well-enough to leave hospital but do not have a care package in place by just sending them home raises many questions.

There may be people who have been sent to care homes needlessly through flawed assessments but has it been so many as to make this new policy a sensible and workable solution?

Our initial reaction is that it will lead to people in desperate need of proper care from social services receiving it either belatedly or not at all.

Cynics may add the scheme is just an accounting procedure designed to get the numbers “off the books” with the expectation some of these people will then not seek the care they need.

We hope that is not the case because any attempt to cure our bed-blocking crisis will always be flawed if it concentrates on numbers and forgets these are people.