Looking back over the posts on my blog the only time that I have really talked about cuts in local government services has been in the context of how lucky the NHS is to have overall funding that has not been cut.

That has been an error on my part. It is obvious that the cuts in social care would have an impact on the work of the NHS and this is starting to happen. Some parts of the country in which I work have over 120 older patients whose discharge from hospital has been blocked by social care problems. Given this is May and not December these numbers are bigger than the health care system would like and foretell bigger problems by the winter.