A scheme to discharge certain patients early could save a hospital at least £1.3 million a year and there are hopes it can be rolled out elsewhere.

Academics are looking at whether the pilot project being run by Mansfield District Council could be replicated to other areas of the country.

The ASSIST (Advocacy, Sustainment, Supporting Independence, Safeguarding Team) works by making sure the patient's own property is made fit for their return or finds them new, more suitable accommodation. It also ensures discharged patients are provided with a range of supporting services, such as advice on money and welfare and help transferring belongings from the old to the new home.

Peter Murphy, of Nottingham Business School at Nottingham Trent University, said patients who take up hospital beds because there is nowhere appropriate for them to go - known as bed blocking - is one of the biggest strains on hospitals.

He said the project has shown that even with the most conservative estimates of the cost per night of a stay in hospital, the savings are approximately five times the cost of the investment necessary to run the scheme.

"The next step is to identify other locations in the UK where similar projects could be introduced and potentially save the NHS and local authorities millions of pounds," he said.

"We think it could only be done in relatively self-contained places that have a hospital in a fairly central location in the community and where the cost of transport or moving people is not too high. It would also need plenty of housing stock.

"Along with people going to A&E when they don't really need to, people who block beds is one of the main problems in the hospital sector."

He added: "It's not the patient who is blocking the bed, it's the failure to facilitate the moving of the patient to a place where they can be better cared for."

Three out of five (59%) people over the age of 65 in Mansfield have a limiting long-term illness, far higher than the regional and national average.

The work of ASSIST begins when patients, often the most vulnerable members of the community, first arrive at King's Mill Hospital in Mansfield.

The team, whose members have specialist knowledge on areas such as drug addiction and care of the elderly and frail, identifies those it can help and has the support ready for them upon discharge.

Mr Murphy, who is principal lecturer in public service management, added: "In Mansfield there is a 'perfect storm' of circumstances which has enabled this pilot to work so well, such as a large number and variety of housing stock, a directly controlled Direct Labour Organisation to maintain and adapt dwellings, and a team which boasts specialist knowledge and experience of working with vulnerable groups.

"This means that we need to assess other locations - most likely to be in the Midlands, the North, Scotland and Wales - for which of the critical success features are present and, if any are missing, whether they can be developed or not."