PM slams local authorities for wasting BILLIONS by failing to find beds for elderly ready to leave hospital
Elderly patients have claimed they would rather die than use their children's inheritance to pay for care home fees
DOWNING Street has savaged councils for wasting billions and failing to find beds for elderly patients ready to leave hospital.
PM Theresa May is fighting back against claims the Government created the crisis by not funding care homes sufficiently.
Figures released by No10 reveal the “transfer of care” rate is 20 times worse for the bottom performing ten per cent of local authorities than the top ten per cent.
They show half of all delays are in just 20 council areas.
The PM’s spokesman said: “Money alone is not the solution.”
The Local Government Association says councils face a £2.6billion funding shortfall by 2020.
Ministers are considering hiking council tax by seven per cent.
Taxpayers already face rises of up to four per cent to pay for social care.
Last night lawyers claimed elderly parents said in legal documents that they would rather die than use their children’s inheritance to pay for care home fees.