EMERGENCY talks to tackle Government underfunding of care homes in the region are being held today.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council will be voicing its concerns over the future of care homes in the borough following the threatened closure of one in Guisborough.

The council's cabinet member for health and social services, Councillor Valerie Halton, and the director of health and social wellbeing, Maurice Bates, along with officers from Langbaurgh Primary Care Trust, are meeting Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Dr Ashok Kumar to try and solve the problem.

The talks were sparked by the threatened closure of Gracelands, though the situation has eased with the hoped-for addition of an 80-bed multi-care home in the town, which has been given planning permission.

Coun Halton said: "The pressure on places has been minimised, but it is important that the original problem of underfunding for older people's care is not forgotten.

"I welcome the fact that Dr Kumar is maintaining his interest and we would hope he may call on the Government to increase the grant allocated to social services departments."

She added: "This is the only way that will resolve the underfunding of a service, which has increased demands placed on it, because more of us are living longer. Without more resources, the quality of life will diminish. This is not what we want for our older people."