THE letter from Lawrence Bell criticising “families” when, as he puts it, “consigning” older people to care homes I find to be mean-spirited in the extreme.

As an MSP for 17 years I have dealt with many constituency cases where distraught relatives after months if not years of coping with close family members – victims of Alzheimer’s or dementia, or such physical frailty that they are at risk – have after much heart-searching had no alternative but to find a placement in a care home for them. Often that difficult family decision is taken long after it should have been as they struggle on until sometimes a

Christine Grahame,

SNP MSP, Midlothian South Tweeddale & Lauderdale,

The Scottish Parliament, Holyrood, Edinburgh.