FOLLOWING the comments of the Blackburn with Darwen Care Homes Group (Letters, November 12), I can confirm two incidents that have happened at Hollymount Nursing Home.

One lady came to us for two weeks respite after a stay in hospital following a fall. Her plans at the time were to go into a sheltered bungalow in the private sector.

She was assessed by the hospital social worker as not suitable to live alone and the home in question offered her a place in the main house. Her social worker from the council's Jubilee Street offices came to see her and said she would have to be assessed at council-run Hopwood Court (despite already being assessed) to see if she could manage at home with a package of help.

She was very distressed. She cried through the night and she was crying when she left us.

If another assessment was deemed necessary, why could this not have been done by a trained nurse, occupational therapist, physio and social worker combined at Hollymount, rather than subjecting this lady to another move to Hopwood Court?

Another lady, whose only daughter lives in the South, came to us for two weeks respite because she had been depressed and lonely. She asked to stay.

The social worker said she had to go to Hopwood Court to be assessed to see if she met the criteria to stay in residential care and she refused.

Her family now make up her benefits to enable her to stay and at least they have peace of mind.

These are not only very difficult times for care homes in the private sector, but also for social workers having to implement such rigid policies.

Our experience has been that if a resident makes an inquiry with us and would like to come to us, they are told they must be assessed at Hopwood Court and then they are either sent back home with a package of care, like it or not, or guided into council-run homes, instead of being offered choice, as is their right.

HEATHER LOMAS, Director, Hollymount Nursing Home, West Park Road, Blackburn.