Every care home in the district will go online helping elderly residents to keep in contact with their family and friends thanks to a Government windfall.

This is just one of a series of measures that will benefit residents by improving their quality of life. A total of 150 care homes in Bradford will share £745,000 as part of a Government campaign which aims to place dignity and respect at the heart of caring for older people.

Peter Kay, Bradford Council's head of services for adults and health, told the Telegraph & Argus: "Care homes have been asked to submit bids as to how they could make improvements within the guidelines. We have assessed these and will now be writing to confirm the amounts.

"Every home will get something and there is one thing we have agreed to do which is providing access to IT facilities at each home. Others will get more money to be able to carry out improvement work.

"We have tried to encourage the care homes to use this as an opportunity to make wider improvements, so it will generate a lot more than £750,000 of improvements."

The cash Bradford will receive is part of a £67m refurbishment fund from the Department of Health which will benefit 7,000 care homes.

It will be used to replace worn-out carpeting or floor coverings to reduce the risk of falls; upgrade dining rooms; upgrade bedrooms and bathrooms; improve gardens or outside spaces to encourage outdoor exercise; make alterations that would give residents greater privacy; and to provide information technology that benefits older residents, such as access to internet and e-mail.

Neighbouring authorities Calderdale will receive £300,000, Kirklees £575,000 and Leeds £1,040,000.

Care services minister Ivan Lewis said: "By distributing this funding to almost 7,000 care homes throughout England we are able to improve the lives of tens of thousands of people and their families.

"This supports the excellent work of health and social care professionals, the voluntary and independent sectors and carers - both family and paid - who work passionately together every day to continually improve the lives of older people."

Annie Stevenson, senior policy adviser at Help the Aged, said: "We welcome this initial injection of funding, which shows the Government recognises that dignity in care homes is crucial to maintaining health and well being. We are glad to see that this money will be spent with due consideration of the views of care home residents and best practice in design.

"However, improving the physical environment is only one piece of the jigsaw that delivers dignity and respect for the care of older people. It is just as crucial to recognise that investment in the care home sector workforce is also vital to lift its status and to improve morale and potential to meet future needs. Without this, the dignity agenda in this area will wither on the vine."

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