Britain's Asian families are finding it difficult to cope with the care of elderly relatives, according the Policy Research Institute on Ageing and Ethnicity.

The institute claims that the myth that all Asian families care for elderly relatives in the home is no longer true.

Naina Patel, the institute's director and the author of a three and a half year study into the problem, said there were "very clear difficulties" relating to such things as health, social care and housing.

Speaking on Channel 4 News, she said that elderly Asians had "specific needs" which needed to be addressed by local authorities.

"The specific needs are really borne out of high levels of ill-health, but also historically we have assumed that within minority communities families look after their own," she explained.