The elderly and infirm could see their meals on wheels grind to a halt, they were told over Christmas.
The Meals at Home service provides hot food to those who cannot cook for themselves, but Luton Borough Council is looking at scrapping it to save around £100k a year.
Alternative suggestions include:
> relying on neighbours sharing their ‘extra portions’
> lunch clubs
> community cafés
> and deliveries of frozen pre-prepared meals from national companies.
Colette McKeaveney, director of Age Concern in Luton said: “Meals at Home offer a lifeline for people who are housebound. I am concerned that the council consult carefully and really listen to people’s concerns and needs. I don’t want to panic people as they will be very distressed over this and frightened. It’s important that people have access to hot nourishing meals.”
Meals At Home are available for elderly people as well as adults with mental health or physical, sensory and learning disabilities, and 147 people in Luton currently receive them.
Letters went out on December 23, causing concern for at least one carer who called the Luton News.
The carer, who did not wish to be named, said: “The person I look after cannot prepare meals himself. He needs them delivered ready to eat – frozen food deliveries will be no good to him. If they stop meals on wheels I don’t know what he’ll do when I’m not here.”
Meals At Home cost users £3.40 per meal. Anyone who receives a hot meal is also offered a daily delivery of a sandwich, a cake, and a piece of fruit or yoghurt for £1.50 extra.
On food delivery websites such as Oakhouse Food and Wiltshire Farm Foods, suggested by the council as potential replacements, hot meals cost between £3-£5, a bowl of porridge is £1 and a piece of cake on its own is sold at £1.50-£1.90.
Luton council also suggested ‘supermarket home delivery’ as an alternative to Meals at Home.
The idea of sharing neighbours’ extra portions is a new concept run by an organisation called Casserole.
Casserole, which is not running in Luton at present, helps people share extra portions of homecooked food with others in their area who might not always be able to cook for themselves.
On our Facebook page, Sue Hartley said: “That sounds about right, work hard all your life, pay your taxes and support the economy for 50 or so years and you too can be rewarded by having the scraps and leftovers of others.”
Petey Staniforth said: “Typical of LBC to try to avoid doing their job. What if you can only afford to feed yourself? How are the elderly meant to feel, like they’re scrounging food from others, when they deserve far more respect than that?”
A recent survey by food company On The Menu showed one in five people over 65 and living alone are officially malnourished, and one third of all elderly pepole do not eat a hot meal each day.
During the 90 days consultation, every user will receive a visit from a social worker to assess their care needs.
A council spokesperson said: “We will also be talking to the voluntary sector to see if any organisations would like to offer a meals at home service.
“The Meals at Home service is costly because it is heavily subsidised compared to other authorities, is limited in that it is only available to people with substantial or critical needs and that there are many other alternative meal providers in Luton not being utilised.
“We will also be investigating how we can facilitate the establishment of new private or social enterprises aimed at providing affordable cooked meals to more people in their own homes.”
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