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Older people tsar Ian Philp has hit back at claims that delayed discharge fines are resulting in older people with mental health needs languishing in acute mental health wards, writes Derren Hayes.

Philp said social services were not “neglecting” older people in acute mental health wards while other programmes were identifying the onset of mental health problems at an earlier stage.

The comments follow concerns raised by South Essex Partnership NHS Trust chief executive Patrick Geoghegan, that social services were prioritising the swift discharge of patients from acute hospital wards over others because they are the only ones covered by the fines system. Geoghegan wants fines to cover acute mental health wards too.

However, Philp said: “You have to prioritise to move a service forward, but it doesn’t mean that nothing is taking place elsewhere. We could have been criticised for spreading the model too widely.”

Rowena Daw, head of policy development at mental health charity Mind, said she opposed the introduction of fines to mental health hospitals. “People are particularly vulnerable in the first seven days after leaving hospital and could be put at considerable risk by being bundled into sub-standard care simply because of the threat of a fine,” she added.

The latest figures from the Department of Health shows the number of delayed discharges fell by 325 in the first three months of fines changing hands. In December there were 3,220 delays, compared to 2,895 at the end of March.