Five more residential homes on the Isle of Wight have warned social services they may close by April.

If the closures go ahead a further 117 beds would be lost to the elderly care sector on the Island - just a week after the announcement of the closure of the St Lawrence Nursing Home, St Lawrence, with the loss of 19 beds.

News of the five potential shutdowns was given to a meeting of the Island council's social services select committee yesterday by registration and inspection manager Adrian Hughes. The homes have not been identified.

The meeting received a report from the Island's joint registration and inspection unit which predicted as many as one in seven care homes on the Island may close within two years.

This could mean a loss of up to 450 beds for some of the Island's most vulnerable elderly people, out of a shrinking total of 1,890 beds.

The figures were revealed following a survey into the impact of the government's national minimum standards for homes.

The survey looked at 90 homes registered to accommodate older people on the Island, including ten nursing homes, and those catering for older people with mental disorders and physical disabilities.

As many as 14 per cent of the homes surveyed said they would close within two years with a potential loss of 450 beds.

Mr Hughes said many of them blamed the cost of meeting the new government standards for features such as lifts. Sixty per cent of the homes did not have a passenger lift fitted as required by the new national standards.

It was also found that 36 per cent of the homes will not be able to meet the new standard for door widths, as their property layouts did not allow for alterations.