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Social services will not face fines for delayed discharges from hospital until 1 January 2004, writes Katie Leason.

Baroness Andrews, the government’s health spokesperson in the House of Lords, said that while the government intends to start the process in October, the charging aspects will not begin until January next year.

“It means that the NHS and local authorities will have a three-month period over the winter to prepare for full implementation during which the charging operates only in shadow form, and no charges for delays will change hands,” she said.

However, social services will need to start preparing for effective weekend working. Saturdays will not be exempt from the period in which a person must be discharged, and while Sundays and public holidays will initially be excluded, they could be introduced as early as April 2005.

Baroness Andrews said that moves should be made “towards a more flexible approach to working hours”, and that excluding Saturday, Sunday and public holidays from the bill would “send entirely the wrong message about what is acceptable”.

“That means that local authorities have nine months from now without financial consequence to prepare for Saturday working,” she added.