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‘The Green Party’s hefty increase to Meals on Wheels costs is unjustifiable’
I worked as a home carer in Bristol for almost a year, travelling from house to house on my bicycle on tight schedules across the ward that I now represent to help mainly elderly people with essential activities like preparing meals, assisting with medication and providing personal care.
They had a range of conditions, including different types of dementia, multiple sclerosis and physical disabilities. Some also experienced mental health issues, including depression and self-neglect.
As a male carer, I only saw elderly men; and the prevalence of loneliness was clear to see, especially for those living alone.
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I’ll never forget one particularly isolated individual who I shall call Jim. He lived alone in supported accommodation, totally frightened of his neighbours who I’d seen for myself had made him an outcast in the block. He wouldn’t even leave his flat.
At the end of my short visits allocated to Jim (30 minutes for lunch and medication, though sometimes it could be just a 15-minute visit), he would plead with me to stay longer, often inventing reasons just so that he wouldn’t be left alone.
These were some of the hardest moments of the job: where my paid duties were already completed, and when I was scheduled to be elsewhere, and yet the psychological and social needs of the person I was with in that moment were totally unmet.
As a home carer, working alone from house to house, it could feel isolating for me as well. From time to time however, I would bump into someone from another service in someone’s home, such as those delivering Meals on Wheels.
The rapport between them and the resident was often a joy to witness and provided them with one more meaningful social interaction on what could be an unwanted day of solitude.
Meals on Wheels is part of the Bristol Community Meals service that provides meals to those who need it most across the city, and is an essential source of nutrition for many who are unable to cook for themselves for various reasons.
Meals on Wheels provides an essential service across Bristol – photo: Bristol City Council
Two other key elements of Meals on Wheels, as argued by the University of Bristol’s School for Policy Studies, aren’t just to do with food: they are to help reduce social isolation, and for the member of the Community Meals service delivering the food to make wellbeing checks.
The university’s research provides a financial argument as well. The last element of Meals-on-Wheels is to promote independence, and to ultimately prevent those living at home to go into residential services – which are some of the most expensive types of care.
The Green Party budget for Bristol City Council proposes raising Community Meals on Wheels by 15 per cent, raising about £100,000 for the budget deficit.
This steep an increase may be manageable for some, but it could be unaffordable for vulnerable people who are already struggling to make ends meet. My Labour colleagues and I find an increase of this size, for a service this essential, hard to justify.
The council covers the cost of Adult Social Care placements, with the average placement costing around £36,000 a year.
If only three people are priced out of Meals on Wheels – and the vital welfare visit that comes with it – and forced into social care, any ‘savings’ from increasing the price are immediately wiped out.
Labour councillors have tabled an amendment to the Green Party budget that would cap the increase at 4.5 per cent. This isn’t ideal, but in challenging financial circumstances, it’s the best we could do.
This rise should be more manageable for Bristol’s most vulnerable, while allowing the council to balance its budget.
For the relatives of people using the service, Meals on Wheels is a significant weight off their shoulders, as they have one less thing to worry in the huge ordeal that can be managing the latter periods of life of their loved ones.
A 15 per cent cost increase has the potential to put further financial and psychological strain on families, and so we must protect the vital work that Meals on Wheels does, not undermine it.
I very much hope cross-party councillors will support our efforts to cap this increase at a much fairer level.
This is an opinion piece by Louis Martin, a Labour Party councillor for Frome Vale ward who sits on the adult social care committee and works as a music therapist in care homes with dementia specialist services
Main photo: Labour Party
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