Frozen meals ‘could be fatal’ to pensioners

Oct 16 2007 by Urmee Khan, The Journal

PENSIONERS groups last night warned of extra winter deaths among the elderly if council bosses agree to contract-out meals-on-wheels services.

Newcastle Council is considering putting the hot meals service into private hands, which could save the authority £400,000 a year – almost half its current spend.

Union leaders have launched a campaign to keep the service, which provides 1,300 hot, fresh meals for the most vulnerable people in the city, as the in-house team has bid to keep running the service.

They claim private firms would cook and freeze meals as far away London and bring them to the North-East, and that the current standard of food could not be maintained at half the current council budget of £821,040.

Newcastle Council said the move could boost choice and nutritional standards, but the move has met a barrage of criticism.

John Berry, secretary of the North-East Pensioners Association, said: “This is not good news for pensioners. Lets face it, elderly people deserve more respect than this.

“With the winter coming, we need to look after the elderly and the disabled. Frozen food is nutritionally bad and our 20,000 affiliated members will be shocked at these cruel proposals, which may be fatal in the winter months.”

Currently the meals cost £2.10 (£4.41 including transport). Unison claim Newcastle Council could save more than £2m over five years if it contracts out the service.

Council branch secretary for Unison, Kenny Bell, said: “How can the council consider the provision of frozen meals for the old and vulnerable, when we have national campaigns about the poor quality of school meals and hospital food?

“School and hospital budgets have been increased to improve the quality of meals and catering contracts returned in-house. Yet we are now supposed to put faith in regenerated frozen meals, prepared by transnational companies, whose only interest is profit.”

Professor Dexter Whitfield, author of Unison research into the matter, said: “The meals we give to the elderly will become like airline food. If you produce food on that kind of scale, it is bound to be cheaper than the fresh food that is currently being delivered.”

Prof Whitfield, a public services expert who has previously worked at Northumbria University, added: “The frozen foods will be produced in Islington in London and what will happen when food is delivered once every 14 days, instead of daily, with no-one to check on the vulnerable, we mustn’t forget the social element of the meals on wheels service.

“I expect that the next stage will be table top freezers and heaters to be rented out to the elderly so they can reheat their frozen meals with questionable nutritional value.”

GMB branch secretary Colin Burr said: “The price difference between the private contractor and the in-house service cannot be explained.”

A spokesperson for Newcastle City Council said: “We are considering moving our Adult Meals service from an in-house to an external provider. This will allow us to expand the choice of home meals as well as further improving the nutritional content.

“Should we decide to go ahead with these plans, there will be no job losses as current staff will be transferred to our new meals provider at the same wages and under the same conditions of employment.”

The council is expected to make a final decision in November. Coun Brenda Hindmarsh, Newcastle Council executive member for adult social services and health, said: “We must be able to guarantee the quality of meals received by the elderly.

“If the quality of the private contractor is good and they can provide it at a more efficient price, then clearly we’ll have to consider it.”

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Fears quality will be cut

THE Newcastle Council annual budget for adult meal supervision currently stands at £821,040.

The council currently provides about 1,300 hot meals per week at a cost of £4.41 per meal (including transport) which is subsidised to £2.10 per meal by the city council.

The in-house service is prepared and cooked on site and delivered hot to people in their own homes or in luncheon clubs, as well as meals provided in centres for the elderly and people with learning disabilities.

Unison claim a privatised contractor would provide frozen meals which were heated in transit, on the way to people’s homes.

Officials are convinced that if a private deal saved the council £400,000 a year, the contractor would cut money spent on food or increase charges for the meals.