I WAS very interested to read the article in the Guardian (September 27) regarding care of the elderly.

In 1996 my mother suffered a severe stroke which left her 90 per cent normal mentally but physically very disabled, unable to walk or stand, with a left side paralysis.

I moved home to a ground-floor flat which was accessible with a wheelchair and my 67-year-old mother came to live with me supported by a home care package provided by social services. My mother remained at home with me for about 14 months but the situation was horrendous.

Eventually the care package collapsed and my mother had to enter a nursing home.

The charges at these so called care homes are more than most people's mortgages and the conditions under which residents are expected to live less than pleasant.

Until recently my mother was living in a home in the local area, but conditions became worse and worse. The staffing level became a joke and the treatment of the residents unacceptable.

I promised myself that I would move my mother to a different home that displayed a little more compassion, and this I did in early September.

Thankfully the care and attitude is far superior but everything comes with a price tag. Unfortunately for me the care home which I chose is above the fees of social services and I now have to find £94 per week towards my mother's care for many years to come.

This is a huge struggle for me as I have no other immediate family but I could not just stand by and watch my mother be destroyed by the system.

The entire system needs radical change from every angle, the funding, the administration, the care and training provided, and certainly the cost of long-term care.

People's homes and belongings are taken from them so they can enter full time care and a lifetime's work and savings are gone in a flash. Somehow there has to be an easier or at least more compassionate approach towards people who have done nothing wrong except work all their lives and then suffer a major illness such as a stroke or heart attack.

Every year millions of pounds is wasted on ridiculous trivia such as building a dome which nobody wanted. It really is a great pity that we didn't build a millenium hospital or care home to give us all hope for the new century and our senior years to come.

STUART SHAW, Snaresbrook