YORK'S care crisis has left a nursing home paying to look after a frail 92-year-old woman - because the council cannot afford to look after her.

The woman, whose family want her to remain anonymous, needs 24-hour care.

But City of York Council offered to fund only two weeks' respite care when she moved in to Somerset private nursing home in Wheldrake last week.

Distressed owner Alice Swaffield felt forced to pay the £260 per week needed for her permanent care herself because the woman had nowhere else to go.

She has been cared for by her elderly daughters for the past 30 years since her husband died. That had to end after one underwent back surgery.

Mrs Swaffield said: "It is so wrong that this old lady is being pushed around from pillar to post. She needs constant care and it is not fair that she is forever on the move.

"This constant upheaval is adding to the distress and confusion of this lovely lady. The council is not doing enough to help the elderly people of York. It is disgusting."

Daughter Eileen said her mother needed qualified care in her old age. She added: "I feel very angry that, at 92 years of age, she is being offered nothing. It's very sad and we are constantly being fobbed off by the council."

Bill Hodson, speaking on behalf of the social services department at City of York Council, said: "She is on the list for a full-time place in a nursing home while we find funding.

"It is frustrating, but I can't say when she will be offered a place because emergencies do occur, which means they take precedence over the list."

A £42,000 shake-up of care for York's elderly will be discussed by council leaders this week. Nearly £13 million is already spent on providing care by City of York Council every year, 19 per cent below the national average of spending.