HOSPITAL patients are taking up the equivalent of 20 beds for a whole month because community services are not available, it has been revealed.

Health bosses said more than 600 patients every month were left waiting in a hospital bed, for differing periods of time, despite being well enough to go home.

And they said the fault lay with social services and community-based NHS services.

The revelation comes as bosses move towards the end of a major programme to slash more than 20 per cent of overnight beds to save £2.5million.

And a vital A&E waiting time target - for people to be seen within four hours - is being missed, leading a health boss to warn that patients must be able to leave to cut down on emergency delays.

In September 648 bed days were taken up because the patients' discharge was delayed.

Dena Marshall, chief operating officer at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Clearly using 648 beds days a month is significant in terms of our A&E performance, which is under 98 per cent.

"For me, there is a real issue about how we work with our primary care partners and social service colleagues to change the way the health and care system works."

Community NHS services are organised by East Lancashire's primary care trusts.

Ms Marshall said: "These are more about patients who are in an acute hospital bed who could be cared for in a community setting.

"It could be that a patient is fit to recover in a community service but that might not be available and the PCT may need to commission that service.

"Or it might be that the patient can move to a community hospital bed but there isn't one available."

She said the delays were roughly split between NHS community services and social services.

Lancashire County Council, which cares for patients in Hyndburn, Ribble Valley, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, said efforts were being made to get people out of hospital on time.

Olive Carroll, director of older people's services at Lancashire County Council said: "We continue to work with all health acute trusts across the county and have developed necessary procedures making it possible to meet people's needs and plan hospital discharges as early as possible."

The Lancashire Telegraph revealed in June that the county council had been fined £17,200 by health chiefs between 2003 and 2006 for failing to take their patients out of hospital on time.

But Blackburn with Darwen Council was not fined a penny - meaning the problem lay at Burnley General Hospital.

Last month, East Lancashire's three primary care trusts were mostly rated fair on a scale of weak, fair, good and excellent by the Healthcare Commission.

Hyndburn and Ribble Valley and Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale PCTs, which have now merged, were both rated fair for quality of services and use of resources.