Three North East cities were ranked in the top four in the UK when it comes to providing care for the elderly.
Overall Sunderland was ranked first followed by Newcastle in joint second place with Barnsley while Durham was placed fourth.
The study was carried out by care homes comparison website Lottie.org to find out the best and worst places for elderly care in the UK.
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Researchers looked at key metrics like care home quality and price, alongside other significant factors such as local restaurant quality, local park access, and proximity to the closest hospital, and gave each major city in the UK an average score out of ten.
The overall data paints a glowing picture of elderly care in the North East. Sunderland was found to be the major city that offered the best elderly care with an overall score of 8.4 out of 10.
While, according to the report, its average care home review score of 6.73 leaves "significant room for improvement", the Wearside city was among the highest scorers in the remaining four categories of care home price, restaurant quality, park access, and hospital proximity.
Newcastle had its overall score of 6.9 significantly bolstered by a perfect 10 rating for park access.
"While the Tyneside city obtained solid scores in most categories, its hospital proximity score of 3.88 prevented it from ranking even higher on our list," said the report.
A poor hospital proximity score of 1.63 did not prevent Durham from ranking in fourth place. With excellent scores for care home price and park access, the historical city achieved an overall score of 6.78.
With an increasingly ageing population, the need for high-quality elderly care in the UK is greater than ever before.
A study by the Office for National Statistics predicts that the number of people aged 85 or over is likely to treble by 2066, suggesting that this issue will become even more prevalent as the years go by.
According to the report: "While the need for high-calibre care homes cannot be overstated, good elderly care is about more than just nursing and accommodation, with everything from outdoor commutes to social interactions playing an integral role in someone’s quality of life."
