MSPs said they would be writing to Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon urging her to look into issues of experience and training, as well as wider aspects of how older people are treated.

An Evening News reporter who spent a week working at Ashley Court Nursing Home in Morningside was taken on apparently without a criminal record disclosure check, was not given training in moving and handling patients until several days after starting, and was left in sole charge of 22 patients while other staff took a tea break.

The Randolph Hill Group, which owns the home, has denied any shortcomings in its care. However, the results of our investigation have raised concerns about general care standards and a lack of funding.

Edinburgh West Liberal Democrat MSP Margaret Smith, a former convener of the parliament's health committee, said the Evening News had highlighted several concerns that she intended to raise with Ms Sturgeon.

She said: "There are the very practical issues about funding, staffing levels, the experience people have and what is expected of them.

"And then there is the wider cultural issue about how we care for older people, and we have a long way to go there in terms of improvement."

Lothians Tory MSP Gavin Brown said he would also write to Ms Sturgeon following the paper's revelations. He said: "The Evening News has raised several specific issues that need to be addressed. How can anybody possibly start work in a nursing home without having lifting training?"

He said there was a need for a fresh look at training and staffing, as well as funding. And for the longer term, he said population trends meant there was likely to be a growing demand for care homes in future.

Ex-Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm, Labour MSP for Edinburgh North and Leith, has just been asked by Scottish party leader Wendy Alexander to head a task force looking at "personalised" care for the elderly. He said he was concerned to read the Evening News report. He said: "This is exactly the kind of issue we're going to be looking at."