I WOULD like to express my disappointment at the tone of your report "Council foots costly care bill" (Advertiser, August 23).

Four Acres in Studley - like Warwickshire County Council's nine other residential homes for older people - offers an excellent standard of care, a fact borne out by the recent Best Value Service Review.

Best Value reviews examine not only the cost of services but also the quality.

In this case, the review found county council homes provided a better quality of service than the other local authority and independent sector homes covered by this review.

County council homes also have more dependent residents (physically disabled or mentally confused) than their equivalents in the independent sector, which adds to the cost of care.

They sometimes undertake extra tasks, such as laundry or bathing for elderly people living in the community, which independent sector homes do not.

Overall, the review was very positive about county council homes.

Importantly, residents and their relatives were satisfied with the service they receive. Residents were happy and felt well-treated by staff.

The County Council is committed to offering residents good value for money and to providing high quality services to vulnerable elderly people.

It is for this reason that we undertook the review and are now looking at how we can improve our services further.

Adie Kean

Head of Adult Services

Social Services Department

Warwickshire County Council