Perhaps the most alarming aspect of the Care Home Crisis is that touched on by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mayhew, and the noble Lords, Lord Astor of Hever and Lord Bradshaw.

A number of concerns have been raised tonight - bed blocking, inappropriate discharges, the Care Home Crisis, the shortage of foster carers, the lack of occupational therapists and children's mental health problems.

Similarly, the last three contributions have brought forth thoughts on the socialist philosopher Mr. Cole, the Care Home Crisis and the Child Support Agency; there are no immediate comparisons among those three subjects.

Private and independent sector involvement might be used - and might be needed - to address such problems as the funding of Welsh patients seeking care in England, reducing waiting lists, dealing with the Care Home Crisis, the problem of delayed discharges and reducing GP shortages.

Those who followed the sad affair of the Government's creation of the Care Home Crisis will be aware that there was much consensus on the Care Standards Act 2000, and that the damage came not from the contents of the Act itself, but from the ministerial regulations that were applied later on, which were recently subjected to a U-turn.

The second myth is the so-called Care Home Crisis.

In this House, the hon. Member for South Suffolk is keen to promote the idea of a Care Home Crisis, but when he writes for the stock market and his investors, he is keen to promote the idea of a booming sector in which money can be made.

However, the “North East Tonight” reports were timely, being broadcast in the same week that a paper by Newcastle university's institute for ageing and health predicted a Care Home Crisis unless there is major investment in the care system to support the rapidly increasing number of elderly people.