Holyrood 'must act on care homes'

Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie has called on the Scottish Government to publish a list of all Southern Cross homes deemed to be "at risk" of closure so local authorities can prepare contingency plans to ensure continuity of care for elderly residents.

The call came as NHP, which is understood to own 20 of the homes currently run by Southern Cross in Scotland, including some in the Lothians, announced it would form a new care home operating company to run care homes in conjunction with Court Cavendish.

Ms Baillie said: "This is an extremely worrying time for residents and their loved ones and the reality is care providers are likely to cherry-pick the most profitable homes.

"The SNP government needs to be proactive and start planning now for the homes that don't find care providers. It's simply not good enough to leave Scotland's 32 local authorities to pick up the pieces."