Meals on wheels RSS feed for the Meals on wheels tag
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News
Express & Star 6 Jan 11
Meals on wheels provided by Walsall Council came to an end today – resulting in lost jobs and upheaval for more than 400 pensioners as the Council seeks to save more than £1million.
Luncheon clubs, private food delivery firms and cafes are stepping in to serve those affected by the council’s decision to end its contract with current provider Sodexo…
News
Express & Star 18 Dec 10
Negotiations are continuing between Walsall Council and the company which runs the meals-on-wheels services in the borough. Just weeks remain until Sodexo’s contract is due to expire on January 6.
Council bosses had offered the company a six-month extension which they have turned down…
News
Advertiser 25 Nov 10
Housebound told they will still get meals
Vulnerable residents across the borough who rely on the council’s ‘meals on wheels’ service are being assured they will still be catered for – even though the contract with current providers runs out in January.
Walsall’s social care chief Paul Davies has vowed that homebound residents will still get hot dinners despite the contract with Sodexho Healthcare Services Limited who deliver the service, expiring on 6 January…
News
Express & Star 2 Nov 10
Pensioners who receive meals on wheels in Walsall are being encouraged to order food from cafes and takeaways instead, leading to fears that the service could be axed.
Walsall Council has given elderly and disabled users a long list of alternative providers ranging from day centres to independently run businesses. It has prompted concerns over the future of meals on wheels in the borough when the contract with Sodexo finishes in January…
News
Express & Star 11 Oct 10
It as emerged that no-one has been lined up to take over the Walsall’s meals on wheels service when the current contract ends in three months.
Walsall Council chiefs insisted work was going on behind the scenes to replace Sodexho Healthcare Services Limited but rumours have been circulating that the service will be cut or overhauled…
News
Advertiser 5 Aug 10
Police in Pheasey have teamed up with meals on wheels staff in the battle against doorstep crime.
Officers have joined forces with Sodexo, provider of meals on wheels across Walsall, to distribute crime prevention packs to vulnerable, elderly and disabled residents…
News
Adam Lumley The YamYam 26 Mar 10
Walsall councillors have been presented with a damning report which calls for an urgent review of how home care is provided in the borough and has strongly criticised the use of an e-auction to secure the lowest possible price for care.
The Domiciliary Care Working Group report says that e-auctions must never be used again in commission care services. The Community Care Act which came into law in 1990, transferred funding for care services to local councils and also allowed private companies to bid as providers for what at one time was known as home help. Local authorities use e-auctions to procure items like furniture and consumables at the best possible price, but the decision by Walsall Council in 2008 to offer home care contracts to the companies that undercut the most has been described as “disastrous” by a leading councillor.
Lead member of the group, Councillor Tim Oliver said: “The e-auction is a method of driving down to the lowest bidder, and makes some sense in getting the best deal. But it has showed itself to be disastrous in terms of social care delivery in Walsall”.
Problems should have been apparent when reputable and proven organisations such as Sue Ryder pulled out of the auction after realising that they could not provide adequate care for the ever decreasing payment for the contract. The cost per hour for care in Walsall fell to £10.61 whilst the average cost in neighbouring authorities was £13.00 per hour.
In May last year, it was discovered that one of the companies granted a contract, Complete Care Services Ltd based in Willenhall, instructed workers to operate in strict half hour slots regardless of the needs of the service user and time-sheet evidence showed that some care workers seemed to be in two places at the same time. The contract was eventually suspended.
The report is also highly critical of the awarding “block” contracts and “spot” contracts. Block contracts usually operate in each geographical area and the company is obliged to provide a specific amount of care hours over the year. Spot contract are used to provide urgent or unexpected care. Without an adequate assessment of requirements, the working group found that some companies in areas where the agreed numbers of hours were not required, but still charged for at a fixed rate, the same companies charged for spot contracts in other areas where need was greater.
The report to the Social Care and Inclusion Scrutiny Panel also calls for more effective monitoring of service provision and an action plan to guard against any further fraud, together with a contingency plan for other contracts being withdrawn.
Leader of the council, Mike Bird said: “E-auction is something that is becoming more prevalent but is probably best used for things that are tangible objects. Social care is the biggest budget spend we have next to education. We have to give people the service they require but at the best possible value.”
This latest “disaster” comes as Walsall council tax payers have pay back £2.8million to the EU due to incompetent accounting and two more Walsall secondary schools are placed in special measures by Ofsted.
News
Express & Star 13 Mar 10
Pensioners could be encouraged to swap meals-on-wheels for pub lunches under a novel plan to modernise the service. Those attending day centres may also be asked to go on trips to bingo halls instead as part of the radical “personalisation” system, a national scheme being considered in Walsall. Finance chiefs hope the changes will cut costs but stressed no-one will be forced to stop receiving meals-on-wheels, although they say the service may not necessarily suit everyone’s tastes…
News
Express & Star 10 Dec 09
Hundreds of pensioners in Walsall face inflation-busting increases in meals-on-wheels prices as the cash-strapped council tries to save more than £800,000 over the next three years…