January 19 2012.

East Sussex will receive an extra £1,038,818 for social care, which will mean that people can leave hospitals earlier and receive better care at home, according to local MP, Norman Baker.

The extra money comes from an extra £150million announced by the government which is to be spent on shortening unnecessary hospital stays across the busy winter period. The cash can be used to access various preventative services, such as better care support, crisis response teams and specialist equipment, and comes on top of the £648million already given to Primary Care Trusts this financial year to support social care services.

The aim is to reduce the pressure on health services, and particularly hospitals during the winter period, freeing up beds for those who need them.

Norman says: "Bed blocking is a real problem and benefits nobody - neither the patient who wants to go home but cannot because the support is not in place, or the inpatient who is in need of a hospital bed. The winter period is a busy period for hospitals, so targeting monies to enable patients who want to get back to the familiar environment of their own home, or into the comfort of their own bed more quickly is the right thing and £1million for the local area is certainly welcome."