A SPECIALIST has been hired by Swindon Council to make sure elderly people get the best possible care.

The role of Cardiff-based Gabe Conlon, 55, will also include helping to tackle Swindon's bed blocking problem, in which elderly people who do not need hospital care must remain there because of delays in finding them home or residential care.

According to the latest figures from Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, this cost a total of £304,800 in March and April alone. It also amounted to 3,048 'bed days' the total of hospital beds occupied by such patients throughout the month. In January and February, the latest month for which patient numbers are available, there were 124 and 131 such cases respectively.

Mr Conlon, a qualified nurse and social worker, has spent 37 years in the health and social services field.

He is preparing a report on the current system for the care of elderly people, which will also set out his strategy for improvement.

His fee, which is not being disclosed, is being paid through grant aid from the Department of Health.

Mr Conlon also spoke earlier this week to a conference attended by representatives of the council, the Trust, staff of public and private sector care homes and others with a hand in such care. He explained today that his remit did not cover just bed blocking he prefers the term 'delayed discharge' but also issues such as ensuring elderly people are cared for at home if they preferred, instead of being put into residential or nursing homes.

Swindon's acting head of social services, Jerry Oliver, said Mr Conlon's appointment was aimed at helping already conscientious social services staff provide the best care.

Under controversial new plans the council could soon find itself being fined up to £100 a day for each patient taking up an acute hospital bed whose discharge has been delayed, as the Government tries to halt the number of bed blockers.

Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust spokesman, Chris Birdsall, said: "We warmly welcome any move or initiative that can help us to discharge patients more satisfactorily."

Mr Birdsall revealed that in March, 1,587 'bed days' were taken by delayed discharge cases, at a cost to the NHS of £158,700, while in April the figures dropped slightly to 1,461 and £146,100.

Exacerbating this problem has been the drop in care home places in the town by more than 200 in less than two years.

The Evening Advertiser last month reported the ordeal of 97-year-old Elizabeth Brackenbury, who was forced to leave her care home. She, along with 19 other elderly residents, was given a month's notice to move out of Hurst House in Pinehurst.

Fortunately her daughter, Eileen Huck, 58, from Toothill, has managed to find a place for her at Westlecot Manor Residential Home in Old Town.

Hurst House was run by Christine and William Moore, who are retiring.