EVERY day 275 older people choose to move into a care home. That's more than 100,000 people each year.

Research shows that during and after the holiday season more people find themselves addressing the options for care of older family members than any other time of the year.

For the majority this can be a frightening prospect, worrying about illness, frailty, finances and lack of independence - and it is often put to one side until a decision must be made under great pressure. Elderly Accommodation Counsel (EAC) is a charity dedicated to helping older people make informed choices about meeting their housing and care needs.

We believe that moving into a care home can be a successful transition in a person's life, enabling them to continue living as happily and independently as their health permits.

This is why we have developed Care Options - a free information package that helps people exercise more choice in meeting their care needs.

Care Options helps people to identify what they are looking for in a care home and recognise what factors matter most to them. EAC also provides a huge Care Options database on individual care homes throughout the UK.

To contact EAC to receive free information on Care Options, telephone 020 7820 1343, write to us, or find us on the internet at www.housingcare.org.

John Galvin,

Director, Elderly Accommodation Counsel,

3rd floor, 89 Albert Embankment,

London SE1 7TP.

Updated: 09:50 Monday, January 02, 2006