DEATHS FOLLOWING RESIDENTIAL HOME CLOSURES

That this House notes with deep concern the worsening crisis for elderly care as growing numbers of local authority and private care homes face closure; acknowledges concerns that the loss of elderly people's care homes causes fear, anxiety and, in many cases, a higher mortality rate when vulnerable, elderly people are forced to leave their homes; further notes that the Southern Cross crisis will increase the need for local authority care; and therefore calls on the Government to hold a public inquiry into the deaths followingclosures of local authority care homes and impose a moratorium on the closure of local authority care homes until that inquiry publishes its results to ensure that vulnerable, elderly people's lives are not put at further risk.