Experts warn that meals on wheels services, which provide hot food to vulnerable people, are at risk of collapsing across the UK due to cuts in local services. Only 29% of services are still in operation, with fewer than 18% in England. The National Association of Care Catering (NACC) is urging the government to provide urgent funding to support the continuation of these services.
Only 29 per cent of Meals on Wheels services are still in operation across the UK services which provide tens of thousands of vulnerable people with vital hot food are heading for UK-wide collapse without government intervention, experts have warned.
There is no statutory requirement for local authorities to offer such a scheme, which delivers food to elderly and disabled residents, so councils can opt to axe services to save money. Meals-on-wheels services support vulnerable people to live independently in the community by reducing the risk of malnutrition, loneliness, or social isolation. Alongside at least one nutritious hot meal every day, the regular caring contact helps reduce avoidable health and care costs, as well as providing support for carers.
The NACC, along with several other signatories that include Age UK and Care England, wrote to MPs on Monday to raise its concerns for the future of the Meals on Wheels services and for the far-reaching and potentially disastrous ramifications if such a vital lifeline into older and more vulnerable people living in our communities was to be lost completely.
Meals On Wheels Vulnerable People UK Collapse Government Intervention Hot Food Local Services Cuts Malnutrition Loneliness Social Isolation Funding
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