Liberal Democrat councillor suggests the privatisation of meals on wheels
July 12, 2012 4 Comments
In reply to my email detailed in the previous post Cllr Alan Crystall replied as below. I have include his whole email lest I be accused of quoting him out of context, and he Has assented to my reproducing this on a public forum.
We had the same “disgusted of Tonbridge Wells” approach many years ago when cllr. Mike King proposed that we privatised our waste collection services, and the Labour and Tory groups shouted out “rubbish”
When Norman Clark did eventually privatise the service we saved £6 million in the first year.
Meals on wheels are a remnant of the old order that can be better served from the private sector providers of frozen and chilled meals, with special help for those in need or with limited resources.
I find it interesting that a “new labour” member should complain about cuts when the last government lost control of spending, especially on military ordering , on schools and hospital buildings using PFI that has crucified the
health and other services since. No one, not even Gordon Brown of the golden rule, was counting the spiralling costs, or the accruing debts.
We members are effectively the “board” of a £500 million operation, and a snack four times a year at council meetings is scant recompense for the long hours most of us put in.
Alan.
I am not going to deal with the whole email in this post, but rather with this sentence: “Meals on wheels are a remnant of the old order that can be better served from the private sector providers of frozen and chilled meals, with special help for those in need or with limited resources.”
Now, of course Alan is entitled to his view, and I applaud the fact that he has allowed me to let the wider community know of it, but I am aghast at what he has written.
Alan, a prominent Liberal Democrat councillor and former mayor, is apparently content for the meals on wheels (or more properly, the meals at home service) to be replaced by a privatised frozen and chilled service.
This service is provided for those who have difficulty cooking for themselves. It is also often the only human contact that the recipient may have in a day – and thus it provides a secondary, and important (if unintended), service.
Quite what he means by “remnant of the old order” I know not, but it does smack of the deserving and undeserving poor argument.
I will not be calling for further privatisation of any service, let alone meals on wheels.
Several years ago I spent a day with the WRVS delivering the meals at home service. The people I met were often housebound for most of the time, unable to prepare or cook their own meals. The hot lunch they got each day was their only hot meal. They told me they looked forward to their meal being delivered because it was a vital opportunity to interact with other people and reminded them that, however lonely they might feel, they weren’t alone.
I don’t doubt that the frozen and chilled meals services have their place. They seem to do quite well. They don’t deliver daily though. You need to have adequate chilled storage space which not everyone is lucky enough to have. I also doubt that they’ll come in, plate up your meal and make sure you’re ok. This service is fine for people who don’t want to cook or can’t manage much other than a microwave but how exactly is someone who is unable to get out of their armchair without assistance supposed to get to their fridge, bend down and get a meal and heat it up? How is someone with dementia supposed to remember to take the cottage pie out of the freezer the night before? For some people, the arrival of meals on wheels isn’t just about them getting food, it’s also about someone reminding them that it’s time to eat.
I am dismayed that at no point in his email has Cllr Crystal considered the actual needs of older people. He seems only interested in saving money and possibly chucking a bit of extra funding in the direction of those with particular needs or on low incomes. The private sector will only deliver a service that is profitable and that may mean a service that fails to meet the needs of some of our most vulnerable community members. Financial support will be of no use if the services they are able to buy do not meet their needs.
Let us not forget this was an email justifying why he should receive a two course meal before council meetings.
There is a place for both services. The frozen service *is* cheaper and it is more convenient as in the person can make it whenever they are hungry – not just when the meal turns up. However as you say there are many people who like both the interaction and cannot actually work a microwave or an oven to warm up said meals.
So there is a role for both services. Those who want the convenience can choose to have the frozen meals – and they can even have dedicated people come round to help them cook it (or obviously family/friends/neighbours etc…)
I don’t think Alan is content for Meals on Wheels to be scrapped and replaced totally by this frozen service but I think he thinks that a mix and match operation would both a) save money and b) give people who rely on these things more choice over how and when they receive their meals.
More choice is not a bad thing.
Neil, I think he just wants a free lunch.