WORRIED social services bosses have revealed the full extent of the care home crisis facing pensioners in the New Forest.

New figures show the number of beds has plummeted by 21 per cent - more than double the figure for the county as a whole.

The huge reduction in the Forest has been caused by the closure of 20 care homes and the resulting loss of 416 places.

Officials say soaring costs, strict planning laws and the large number of proprietors reaching retirement age have all contributed to the spate of shutdowns.

Now many of the remaining homes, such as the Laurel Bank care home in Salisbury Road, Totton, run by Laurence Baughan, are turning pensioners away and the shortage of beds is set to grow even worse.

The statistics show the number of Forest residents aged over 85 years is likely to rise by 18 per cent by 2008.

The widening gulf between demand and supply was exposed at a meeting of New Forest District Council's economy and planning review panel.

Members were briefed by representatives from Hampshire County Council's social services department.

Tim Ardill, contracts support manager (social care), said: "In the past five years the number of care home places in the Forest has dropped from 2,020 to 1,604."

Laurence Baughan told councillors of the difficulties facing the Laurel Bank care home.

Mr Baughan, who was speaking in his capacity as chairman of New Forest business Partnership, said: "Laurel Bank has been effectively full for four years.

"During the past 12 months we received 351 inquiries but were able to admit just 27 residents - less than eight per cent of those who approached us."

The growing shortage of care home places in the Forest means local pensioners who need long-term care often have to leave the area.

Others become bed-blockers - hospital patients who are well enough to be discharged but are too frail to live in their own home.

Some of the residential care units that have closed went out of business because they were too small to remain viable.

Others have asked for permission to expand, but the New Forest is protected by strict planning laws and several applications have been thrown out.

Forest North councillor David Scott said: "We need to find a way of providing beds in places where people can end their lives with dignity.

"Our job is to work out where they should go. It can and should be done."

Nationally, care homes are closing at the rate of 600 a year as owners struggle to cope with increasing costs and additional red tape.

Hampshire has lost ten per cent of its care home places in the past five years, prompting calls for a radical rethink.

Chris Perry, director of Age Concern Hampshire, said: "We need to explore a range of alternatives to traditional nursing accommodation.

"It's possible to support all older people in their own homes.

"If the cost is prohibitive, or the person chooses a more communal way of life, what's known as Very Sheltered Housing offers a real alternative."