Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Meals set to cost an extra £2 if reheated
Elderly and disabled people who receive meals on wheels will be charged an extra £2 if council workers in Wolverhampton reheat their frozen dinners for them.
Staff, carers and pensioners attended a public consultation in the city over plans to almost double the cost of meals on wheels and increase charges that will see the average weekly day and home care fees double. Officials say the proposals – part of the Tory-controlled council’s £7.6million cutbacks – could see all freshly prepared hot meals replaced with frozen ones.
Customers would then pay the same £2.40 charge as at present for a frozen dinner or £4.40 if it is reheated and delivered warm.
About 10 meals on wheels drivers turned up to protest on behalf of 100 customers who were too frail to attend.
Driver Diane Washbrook said kitchen staff at the council’s Stowheath Lane site had already been offered the chance to change jobs and told hot meals would be phased out from January.
She said: “Nobody wants to pay £4.40 for a frozen meal, reheated.”
Brian O’Leary, the council’s chief officer for transformation, said he was not aware of staff being offered new positions.
Savings programme manager Geoff Tait said: “These proposals, if agreed, will take effect from April.”
Fallings Park Labour councillor Steve Evans said: “I have been contacted by elderly people who say they will go without a meal or will share one between two. That is scandalous.”
In September, the charges for home help were raised from an average of £19 a week to £30 but pensioners now face paying about £36 from April.
Consultation continues until December 31.
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The cutbacks stem from Labour’s mismanagement of the Wolverhampton council taxes.
The Tories are only trying to repair the damage…although this idea should be shelved immediately.
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Rob H- The Tories couldn’t repair the titanic if it was in a dry dock!! Cut backs to the old and vunerable? Yep thats the Tories for you. Old habits die hard don’t they?
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PS – Cllr Evans and his aggrieved pensioners
You can buy a microwave oven for under £35 in Argos. Heat up a mere eighteen meals and it’s paid for itself!
You can also buy then ready-made meals to put in it for £1.00 each at Asda.
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We deliver a frontline service 365 days a year come rain shine or snow there has never been a day we have failed to deliver. To these people they recieve the meals as a last resort to help keep them in the community and relieve the pressure on family members. If they were able to go out and but a frozen meal from Asda and microwave it they would already be on the fortnightly delivered service. We deliver a hot meal to clients who are unable to come to the door we cut up their food and make hot drinks as required, and importantly we are ensuring the client is safe and well, quite often they don’t see another soul all day.
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No politics but again it’s the vulnerable who are being kicked.People who used to keep the country going years ago.
But it is also true that if you are well and healthy you can get round the problems.Old folks need the contact and the helping hand.Some of them are not in a state to play around with cookers etc.
Some people have not just got someone to pop round to Asda and Argos can mean a safari often by taxi both ways.
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Ok for the healthy to pop round to Asda or Argos-the latter can mean a two-way taxi safari.
Always the vulnerable who get kicked.
Some old folks aren’t safe with cookers and they need a bit of company and fuss.
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“Some old folks aren’t safe with cookers and they need a bit of company and fuss.”
Time then to move into sheltered housing where care and support is to hand; or, in extremis, into a care home. Suggesting that is not to be cruel: merely to face up to reality.
Alternatively, if frail elderly people are adamant they want to stay in their own homes then they will just have to pay the going rate to supply a service that is becoming ever more expensive to run as more older people DO avail themselves instead of microwaves and ready meals.
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Indeed Diane, people dont realise that the majority are physically unable to re-heat meals, let alone remember to do it. The service is there to profide a nutritious hot delivered meal to the physically frail or people with dementia/mental heath issues instantly. Many of whom need to be prompted to eat their meals, if the meals drivers encounter any concerns this is reported to Social Services. Please do not over look the fact that some of the people we talk about do not have local family/friends to give them a hand. You just need to read up on Dudley Social Services delivered meals service – I think it becomes obvious what the outcome will be.. reduced service due to a rise in costs, then reduced need to provide a service. Its happended to other authorities previously. Yes money has to be saved but by what means – the safety of very vulnerable residents of Wolverhampton whom maybe are unable to stand up for themselves???
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Well done WCC, keep picking on the most vunerable in our society.
You must feel very proud of yourselves.
How about we do the same in the staff restuarant at the Civic Centre?
No chance.
I was going to say you will get old one day but you will have your gold plated pensions that these people have helped pay for.
Best thing I ever did was get out of that dirty tired old town.
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My mother in law recently suffered a bad stroke, front left lobe, speech and cognitive thoughts. Ie not much talking not much understanding. She was allowed home yesterday and without help from carers and services like meals on wheels, et al, she would have little help as we all work fulltime. Cookers and gas fires are dangerous for her so heating up any meal is just not on. Sadly, what annoys me is politics is always drawn into it. Does no one think for themselves now a days? Its not tories, its labour, its not labour, its liberals…learn from the past, they all cock it up to someone so keep politics out of it! However…the party that can/does put it right will get my vote…sadly though, I believe none of them can!
Have a pleasant future…
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RE Kim’s comment, every April the meals go up by 10p which is a very small amount, this April once again it was another 10p rise but they were all expecting a much higher increase, what with the credit crunch and the general economic state of the country so it was a surprise that it was still the 10p are you with me so far ?? At the moment they recieve a fresh cooked meal Mon-Fri which they are willing to pay more for albeit not an extra £2 per day !! the meals they want to charge them £4.40 for are frozen and regenerated which are half the quality and almost double the cost.
Over a year this would amount to approx an extra £650 just for this service alone. One client worked out his total extra costs would be £1,600, and all this so the average household won’t have to pay an increase in council tax ammounting to approx £50 per year per household. !!!!!!!!
I have a group on FB where thre is some interesting views and links. Wolverhampton’s old people deserve to be looked after.
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How dare the tories pick on the most vunrable of our society I dont think they give a damm about people of wolverhampton just as long as they can hold on to the city council and their bit of power lets hope people will remember this at the next local elections
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Yet another pathetic attempt to save money by cutting services to the elderly.
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Anthony Blakeway – You could, of course, ask yourself which party got Wolverhampton Council into the financial mess that it’s in at present.
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WE all know what the councils attitude to pensioners, if they are dead they won’t need a care home !
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Q…Why is it that WCC have £63 MILLION in reserve and they still want to enforce all these cuts/price increases.
A…So they can give a 0% increase on council tax next year and be re-elected in May.
**Note I live in Staffs so my political views don’t count in Wolverhampton I just want my clients to get there meal each day without all this stress and worry it’s not fair to them.
Why don’t the councillors concerned come out with the meals on wheels see what we do and meet the elderly and vulnerable they are upsetting. ????
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Barry-Same party that runs Sandwell and thats seems ok. Not perfect but less of a mess than Wolverhampton. However Dudley run Tory council is also in a state! Wonder which party really is the best?
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Ghost-writer – Sandwell receives £60 million per annum more in government grants than Dudley – which is why it can afford to fritter away a small fortune on The Public in West Bromwich and still find money for new leisure centres.
However, despite all that extra money it still languishes way down most of the Audit Commission’s comparative performance tables for local authorities. “Not perfect” indeed (and which probably explains why, where they have a choice, many Sandwell parents prefer to send their children to Dudley schools instead).
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Yes true RAY about Sandwell but it does seem to spend some money on it’s people. No cut backs for the elderly or young. They just spent alot of money renovating private housing to make the area a little better.-Oh and they havn’t tried to sell off their Council stocks to private lanndords yet! They didn’t bankrupt themselves like Walsall council did,nor did they waste tax payers money on a private firm to do their bidding on a new computer system!
The Public-well is a waste of money I agree, but a city like Wolverhampton cutting back Elderly resources? Well thats even below Sandwells performance table!!
Nope they are not perfect by a long shot…but they are better than than some of the other councils.
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