Care of the elderly – and the huge costs associated with it – is one of the most troubling and contentious issues of modern life. As our population expands and we live longer, we must find ways of providing the care we need when we get beyond our prime.

Stories of people having to sell their homes to pay for the costs of care homes are nothing new, but the experience of one family in the district has added a more worrying aspect to the situation which could affect many more people in the area.

When 80-year-old John Young had to move into a care home his son had to arrange for pensions, benefits and the proceeds of the sale of his home to be transferred to the care home to pay for his residency.

But he should not have been liable for the all of the bill, and now Mr Young junior has managed to claw back more than £30,000 that should have been paid in the first instance by the Primary Care Trust for the care of his father, who is now deceased.

This is good news, of course, but the fact is that the family should not have been put through the extra stress of having to organise the funding of Mr Young’s care at what must have been a very stressful and distressing time for them.

Many more people could be in the same situation and it is to be welcomed that the PCT – now called NHS Airedale, Bradford and Leeds – has pledged to look at all similar cases, though claims must be made before September 30. Let us hope that such mistakes won’t happen again.