I REFER to the article, "Nowhere to go for the Old", and your comment that elderly people living in Bolton are three times more likely to lose their care home places than others in the North-west.

In Bolton we work in partnership with local residents and nursing home owners, to ensure that, for those people for whom residential care is a positive choice, there is a sufficient number of good quality homes available. These homes are required to be registered with the Commission for Social Care inspection and have to comply with standards laid down by the Commission.

There are currently 1,400 people living in residential and nursing homes in Bolton, with approximately 80 vacant beds available at the present time.

We have also developed a number of very successful initiatives, such as intermediate care, rehabilitation services and extra care housing schemes, to enable older people to live independently in the community, and therefore the number of places needed in residential care homes have reduced.

Far from "having no place to go", we are working with partner agencies to try and ensure that older people have a range of options available to them.

Cllr Bob Ronson

Executive Member

of Social Services & Health