Elderly may lose meals on wheels service in Liskeard

There are fears for the future of the meals on wheels service in the Liskeard area following a re-assessment of many of the clients who receive subsidised meals.

It has been claimed that re-assessments, by county council staff, have meant that a number of elderly people, who regularly received the £1.60 subsidised meals, have now been told that they will no longer be able to purchase them at that price. Instead they are having to buy from source privately from those who supply the meals for the county council

This will be at a cost of around £3.90 for a main meal and a sweet from the WRVS, who deliver on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or £4.30 from Mealcare, based at Liskeard, who deliver seven days a week.

Lynette Hunt, who runs Mealcare, said that she is so concerned by the situation that she has contacted local MP, Colin Breed.

She said that 31 of her clients have been affected in the last few weeks, and emphasised the value of the service her company provides. She said she accepted Mealcare was run as a business, but it was set up six years ago specifically to serve care in the community and has operated successfully ever since. She spoke of the 'astronomical overheads' of providing meals on wheels, and pointed out that not only are meals delivered to the elderly, the fact that someone delivers them is also a necessary point of contact for many clients.

She pointed out that without meals being delivered seven days a week many of the elderly may have no option but to go into a residential home.

Daphne Butler, WRVS area food services manager, said that a number of clients who had received subsidised meals, delivered by the WRVS, have been re-assessed over the past two or three weeks, and have been told they no longer fall in the category of £1.60 meals. She said that at the moment the situation was affecting five WRVS schemes in the Liskeard area.

Those affected were being asked if they wished to continue with meals, but paying over £2 extra.

Mr Breed said that he is taking the concerns up with the county's social services department, mainly at the way the matter has been handled. He felt there should have been a greater amount of consultation between the county and the suppliers of the meals. He said that it seems massive changes have taken place, and it would have been business etiquette to consult with Mealcare and the WRVS.

Speaking of Mealcare he said that if the county, as the public sector, wanted to use commercial suppliers then they have to consider the affects of their decisions upon such businesses. Consultation may have meant that other solutions could have been reached.

A county council spokesman said that they could only comment on individual cases, as there are a number of reasons why meals on wheels clients had been re-assessed.