News

Liberal Democrats peers are planning to bring about a change to the Delayed Discharges Bill to prevent the proposals to fine social services coming into force until 2004.

Health spokesperson Lord Clement Jones is expected to resort to the rarely used "sunrise clause" mechanism to introduce an amendment in the committee stage of the bill on 17 and 18 February, stating that it should not be enacted until April 2004 at the earliest. A vote on the amendment would follow.

Baroness Liz Barker, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on social care in the House of Lords, said that everyone who responded to the consultation felt April 2003 was not an achievable implementation date.

"We want to delay that to give local authorities and the NHS the chance to put together the infrastructure needed to make it work," she said.

It follows concerns raised about the policy by the House of Commons health select committee in its annual report.

"We are disappointed that the government has not taken note of our concerns and acted upon our recommendations regarding the risks of cross-charging mechanisms to deal with delayed discharges," the report says.

The Commons health select committee report is available from www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmhealth/261/26102.htm