Alan Milburn has set out plans to reform the provision of care services for elderly people.

In a bid to tackle bed blocking, pensioners will be given an extra £1 billion a year by 2006 for social services to pay for care at home - with £70 million ring-fenced by 2006 to provide training for social care staff.

Outlining a new focus on individual care, Milburn pledged that by the end of 2004 all nursing care assessments will begin within 48 hours and be completed with one month.

Following assessment, services to older people in need will be in place within one month, he told the Commons.

Milburn said every older person in need of care will be given a choice of receiving a service or a cash payment to buy care for themselves.

The health secretary told MPs that the equipment needed to help people live independently in their own homes will be provided within one week - promising to scrap charges currently made for equipment such as handrails and hoists from next April.

By 2005, he said, twice as many older people would receive the intensive help they need to live at home than in 1995, with the Carers Grant doubled to £185 million by 2006.

Milburn pledged legislation for free rehabilitation and intermediate care services for older people.

The announcement comes ahead of a report on delayed discharges by the health select committee - to be published on Wednesday - which is expected to criticise the failure of the government to develop a coordinated policy.

The government has focussed on bed blocking as one of the main shortcomings in the NHS, with local authorities failing to provide enough nursing care places for patients well enough to leave hospital.

The problem has been blamed for pushing up the number of cancelled operations, with hospitals running short of space for patients as beds are filled.

Figures show that in the third quarter of 2001/02, more than 5,000 patients aged over 75 had their discharge delayed.

The Conservatives blamed government red tape for leading to the closure of thousands of care homes for the crisis in the care sector.