Great-grandmother Kathleen Parrott has been waiting to come out of hospital in Horsham for six months to go into a home.

But she has had to stay put because social services have been unable to afford the cost of a place in the home for her.

It's called bed-blocking and it's a chronic problem in the NHS. It causes patients misery and costs millions of pounds.

The Government has this week announced it is spending £8.2 million in Sussex to deal with the problem. It's a good investment because it will save public money overall.

Even the cost of the most luxurious care home is usually less than that of keeping an old person in hospital.

Hardly anyone wants to spend a minute longer in hospital than necessary and the money should enable people such as Kathleen Parrott to get into the places they will regard as home.

Bed-blocking is also part of the problem at Brighton General Hospital where Labour councillor Susan Joy was shocked at the conditions some old people are enduring.

Many of these patients should be in homes but Coun Joy's own authority, Brighton and Hove City Council, is facing a social care spending crisis and can't afford to fund all the beds.

At least Brighton Health Care NHS Trust is making some effort to renovate the old people's wards there during the next three years and the £3 million project should provide better, more humane conditions.

Many Labour councillors have signed The Argus petition, which aims to stop the transfer of breast cancer treatment from Brighton to Haywards Heath.

It is totally wrong that thousands of sick women should be forced to travel all the way into Mid Sussex for treatment that should be available in their home city.

This treatment does not have to be available at the Royal Sussex County Hospital where it is now. It could be at another site within the Brighton area.

One possibility being mentioned by councillors is the Hove Polyclinic off Nevill Road. This is a pleasant, bright building with good access by car and bus,which appears to be rather underused.

Although it is run by South Downs Health NHS Trust rather than Brighton Health Care, it should not be beyond the wit of these two organisations to come to a deal if the site is feasible.

It must be clear now to Brighton Health Care that there is enormous opposition to the move, much of it justified.

Nearly all the people attending the breast cancer unit live in the Brighton and Hove area, which has a population of 250,000.

As breast cancer is one of the most common forms of the disease in Britain, treatment for it should continue to be provided in Brighton and Hove.

Money, or the lack of it, is always part of the problem in the NHS. It is always evident in the less glamorous end of the service, such as geriatric care.

So is management. Too often decisions are taken, such as merging the Mid Sussex and Brighton hospital services, which may look good on paper but which cause only misery and mayhem for patients.