Measures aimed at ending hospital bed blocking will increase deaths among elderly people, the Liberal Democrats have warned.

The party claimed on Wednesday that laws for fining social services that have too many elderly patients taking up hospital beds would lead to more emergency re-admissions and an increased death rate.

Under powers of the Delayed Discharges Act, which come into effect on Wednesday, social services will have two days to find respite care places for elderly patients to recover after release from hospital.

From January, if they fail to achieve this, the local authority will be fined up to £120 each day.

Liberal Democrat spokesman on older people Paul Burstow warned the new rules were merely an "incentive for chucking the sick and elderly onto the street".

"It creates upheaval for the most elderly in society when they are at their most vulnerable," he said.

The party highlighted official statistics that showed one in five patients aged over 75 who were readmitted to hospital died within six months.

"The death rate of those over 75 and readmitted into hospital is already unacceptably high. The loss of care home beds, the shortage of home care placements and the government's obsession with bed blocking will see that death toll rise further," Burstow said.

He called for the government to push more cash into frontline services as a better way of solving the problem.

"Instead of having the ludicrous situation where the government passes money to social services on the one hand and then takes it away through arbitrary fines, services would benefit by having the money going directly to the front line," he said.

But the Department of Health rejected his claims that the new laws would force medical staff to cut corners.

"We do not accept that bringing in reimbursement for the NHS for delayed discharges will lead to a rise in so-called 'early ejections'," said a spokesman.

"Hospitals will not discharge patients unless they are satisfied that the patient is medically fit and ready. We believe it is fair that the costs to the NHS of delayed discharges be passed on to social services if they are responsible because they have failed to make suitable provision."