Nicola Sturgeon in pledge to the elderly as care home company nears collapse

The company, which has 98 care homes in Scotland, is also set to seek a 100 million cash injection in an attempt to secure its future.

Reports yesterday suggested the firm was considering proposals from landlords who wanted to take back control of their homes.

Southern Cross has 750 homes across the UK and cares for more than 30,000 residents, but has announced that it will underpay its rent for the next four months as it struggles with a 230m annual rental bill.

Union leaders will today call on the government to ensure that a Cabinet-level minister is given responsibility for ensuring the care of the elderly and vulnerable residents is not affected.

Meanwhile, health secretary Nicola Sturgeon has pledged it will be her "personal priority" to ensure the highest standards of care for the elderly, amid continuing uncertainty over the future of the care home provider.

The Scottish Government is monitoring the situation, but is working with local government umbrella group Cosla to ensure that should Southern Cross goes into administration, residents in its homes will still be cared for.

The annual conference of the GMB union in Brighton will today debate an emergency motion on the "crisis", with delegates set to call on the government to intervene.

The union will say it is time for a "fresh start" and a different social care model for looking after the elderly and vulnerable.

Delegates at the conference will demand that the government introduce a new standard of care, sufficiently funded and resourced, so elderly and vulnerable people are cared for with dignity and respect and in safety.

Officials have said there was no threat of imminent closure of any of the homes, but union leaders, and families of residents, have voiced mounting concern.

The emergency motion reads: "Government must immediately appoint a Cabinet minister charged with ensuring a continuity of care for the 31,000 residents of Southern Cross, and guarantee that no homes close and no resident is turned out or forced to move against their will."

The union will also publish a 61-page study on Southern Cross, called "The Cross we have to bear: the greedy and the gullible" later today, which names many in the City who played a part in the "scandal" surrounding the company's finances.

A union spokesman said: "Many of those who organised the mess that is the care sector in private hands are still in senior jobs in the City employed as highly paid financial experts."

Ms Sturgeon will set out her direct responsibility for older peoples' services at a conference today organised by Alzheimer Scotland.

"Every older person has the right to expect to be treated with dignity and respect at all times," she will say."My priority is to ensure this happens - and that the highest standards of care are maintained.

"It is vital that older people, their families and carers have complete confidence.

"They can be assured that I consider it a personal priority, and that we won't accept standards which are below par."