Time to look again at the future of ‘meals-on-wheels’

Published: 16 June, 2011

I WOULD like to set the record straight about our plans for the community meals service (It’s not just about a hot meal, letter from Phoebe Watkins, June 9).

As part of our Better Care Choices, we are modernising the meals arrangements so that they are more flexible and offer increased choice to Camden people. 

The number of people using the meals-on-wheels service has been continuously falling over recent years, and we do not want to carry on with something that clearly needs changing.

Since June 2008 nearly a third of those who used the service opted to stop receiving meals and now only 206 people receive a daily delivery. This can be attributed to the quality and variety of meals on offer to service users, as well as the greater range of options available in the community. The current service was designed for a past generation or two; it’s time to bring it into the 21st century. 

We are currently talking with all service users about a new way of providing a hot meal that increases the quality and variety of food they receive. Social workers are assessing the risk levels of people who use the service and, if needed, far from being left alone the council will arrange for a carer to cook a ready meal for them in their home.

Any suggestion that a vital early warning system will be lost is frankly scaremongering of the worst kind. Protecting the vulnerable and delivering top quality services is our priority and that is why I am pleased to be consulting service users on a proposal that would increase the contact between service users with specialist needs and trained professional carers. This is something that is lacking from the current system.

l I would also like to comment on your article (Firm’s cash crisis casts shadow over the future care of 29 frail residents, June 9) about the care home in St John’s Wood.

Your suggestion that Camden Council chiefs did not realise the Town Hall was buying care from Southern Cross is simply untrue and your headline risked causing anxiety. 

Camden sponsors 27 service users to receive nursing care at St John’s Wood care home, which includes younger adults with a physical disability. 

In addition NHS Camden sponsors 26 service users to receive NHS continuing care.

The last inspection carried out was an unannounced visit on November 16 2009 and the home retained its “good” quality rating. This is a more recent inspection than you refer to when you mention the inspection from 2008. In addition to this council officers monitor care and standards on a regular basis and there are no current concerns.

Currently the St John’s Wood home is one of only two nursing homes in the borough providing care for the frail elderly. The four council-run homes were unable to provide the level of nursing care required for these service users. The two nursing homes to be built by Shaw healthcare will provide increased capacity for nursing care in the borough in modern, purpose-built, accommodation. 

Meanwhile we will continue to monitor national developments at Southern Cross and we believe that there is currently no need for concern by residents of the St John's Wood home or their families.

CLLR PAT CALLAGHAN
Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care