BED blocking may not sound like a sexy subject when it comes to talking about the challenges facing our county's Social Services department but it is a very real problem.

Indeed this piece of jargon hides a danger, if residential care home owners, are to be believed that is putting the lives of elderly patients at risk.

More than 62 patients are at present in hospital waiting for places in care homes.

The places are available but the money to pay for them isn't because the county's cash-strapped Social Services is over budget and facing a deficit of around £1.5 million, though director Ray Jones hopes it will be reduced by the end of the financial year.

Given that we are only at the start of winter, when the cold weather inevitably results in an increase in hospital admissions and more elderly people need nursing care, the situation can only get worse.

The Registered Nursing Home Association has blamed the crisis on the county for cutting its funding.

This is not true, the county is just not keeping pace with the increase in the need for nursing care, which is not the same thing at all.

Wiltshire says it has increased spending on residential home care but the increase cannot keep pace with the rising number of elderly people needing care.

This shortfall in cash can be traced back to the amount of money the county is allowed to spend by the Government, which county council chief executive Keith Robinson and Dr Jones claim is not enough to cope with the pressures placed on a county such as Wiltshire.

The net result once again is that Government underfunding, just as it hampers the county's education service and road maintenance, is placing the lives of the elderly at risk.

The RNHA does not help its case by firing wild accusations at the county, which has toiled long and hard to increase its Government grants to prevent this kind of situation. The association would be better served in lobbying the county's MPs to see what they are doing about championing the county's cause.

The RNHA's motive for these complaints is probably more commercial than genuine concern for the welfare of the elderly. After all, more beds occupied in its members' homes means more fees.

But the county cannot afford to dismiss the RNHA's complaints completely. It needs the care homes just as much as they need its business. After all, if they go out of business who else will look after our elderly?