BarnetEyeTV - Rog T explains his opposition to the scrapping of Meals on Wheels by Barnet Council

The dishonesty of Barnet Council over meals on wheels

 Barnet Council are currently proposing to scrap meals on wheels provision to over 200 of the Boroughs elderly and vulnerable people. In an article on the Barnet Times website, the crass dishonesty of the bully boy council was laid bare (http://m.times-series.co.uk/news/13627408.Meals_on_wheels_face_the_axe/)

Councillor Sachin Rajput said

“We will also be visiting everyone currently receiving the service to explain the proposal and to talk through which other options would best suit them should the proposal be agreed - for example lunch clubs or other catering companies."

In 2007, when Barnet Council outsourced the service, my elderly and severely disabled mother had a similar visit. What was meant to be part of the consultation was simply a box ticking exercise. Despite my mother being on Morphine at the time and having speech issues due to a stroke, she saw right through the dishonesty. They told here not to worry as everything would be the same and she would notice no difference . She replied "will it be the same person delivering it". The response "erm no". Will it be the same meals. Response "erm no" She then asked "will it come at the same time". The response "I don't know". To which my mum replied "you are lying when you say I won't notice. Do you think I am stupid. Everything is changing" and she was right. But at least she got a meal. Under the new proposals she'd get nothing. 

The council propose lunch clubs or other suppliers. They Are simply washing their hands of supporting vulnerable people. What happens if a private company fails to deliver? With the council, there is a whole organisation to provide backup, but if a private company dumps the service or a charity can't support it, then vulnerable people starve.

Barnet Council seem to have forgotten what they are elected to do. Apparently the service costs £180,000 a year. The director of adult services who is proposing the change, Dawn Wakeling, gets a salary of £164,000, which do you think provides better value? 

Meals on wheels allows elderly people to live independently. It is far cheaper for elderly people to live at home than to put them into council paid for care. They need meals on wheels because they physically can't cook. In my mums case, she wasn't able to use a telephone to complain. She simply had my phone number on speed dial and a panic line. 

Many elderly don't have local family. For them meals on wheels is a lifeline and the fact that Rajput simply sees it as a plate of hot food shows how out of touch with the reality of the lives of vulnerable people he really is. This visit will simply be a box ticking exercise. The vulnerable people on the end of this cruel cut are in no position to argue. For many it will be scary and upsetting. It is only just over a year since the Tories won on Barnet Council elections. There was no mention of this cut in their manifesto. Did Rajput tell you he was abolishing the services when he knocked on your door and asked for your vote? Thought not

Barnet Meals on Wheels contract rebid

For those of you who don't know the history of why I started blogging about Barnet Council, the major factor was the realisation in 2005 that the people running Barnet Council (Ie the Barnet Conservatives) didn't give a toss about the people who they provided services to. The incident that brought this home to me was when meals on wheels services were outsourced to Sodexho in Easter 2005.

At the time, my mum was still alive and relied on the meals on wheels service for her main daily meal. She had suffered a stroke and although living independently, a broken hip had severely limited her ability to cook for herself. Prior to 2005 a volunteer service delivered the meals. My mother was very happy with the service and the meals were of a good standard. Like many elderly housebound people, my mother was rather set in her routine. When it was announced that the contract was changing, she was most concerned. Firstly she was upset that the nice lady who brought her dinner would no longer be visiting. She was also concerned that the new service would not work properly. We all sought to reassure her. Of course Barnet Council would make sure the new service would still come. The glossy brochure explained that she'd get more choice and a better, more flexible service. Mum said "I don't want a better, more flexible service. I just want my lunch".

We all secretly laughed, "Old people don't really understand the modern world". On the first day of the new contract, no dinner turned up. Mother took to her bed in disgust. The second day, it came at 5pm, stone cold and completely inedible. By the third day, we'd started ringing councillors, making a fuss. It turned out that the delivery round had 40 dinners, allowing 3 mins per delivery. In short the amount of time was completely inadequate. After kicking up an almighty stink, we were told that my mums dinner would be the first meal on the round "due  to her special circumstances" (stroppy kids, who made a fuss). Sadly the size and quality of the portions was not what my mother had been used to.

Eventually the service settled down into a pattern, but at least once a week, the meal would be uneaten, despatched as a treat for our dog. We took to providing a rota to provide a hot evening meal as well. We wanted to make sure she ate. I realised that there were plenty of old people like my mum who were being neglected. I also realised that most of them had no one to stand up for them. That is how the blog started.

I have themes here, but generally anything where the wellbeing of our elderly residents is concerned is pretty near the top of the list. I was interested to notice that  the Cabinet resources committee is recommending  that Sodexho get the contract for another 5 years.


http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/reports/reportdetail.asp?ReportID=9967

Due to my special interest, I noted a few things. Firstly the cabinet papers say Barnet have the most expensive meals on wheels in London. I think this is disgusting. I've extracted a few key facts. Perhaps the strangest is the cost of these meals. Given that you can get a Sunday roast for less at some of our pubs, I do wonder on how they decide this is value for money. It also disturbs me that quality is viewed as the least important of the scoring criteria. Price is the most at 35%, whilst quality is only 20%. That's what Barnet Tories think of our elderly residents. No surprises. After the stress Sodexho caused my mother, personally the only thing I'd have awarded them is a turn in the stocks so residents could throw rotten tomatoes at their directors.

How the Barnet Eye started.

I suspect one or two more people might be checking this blog out than usual, given a certain topical matter in the news this week. Anyone new to the Barnet Eye may wonder how it all started. You may wonder why a dyslexic punk rock guitarist in his mid 40's, who runs a music studio, ended up writing a blog which constantly criticises Barnet Council and lampoons the members of the administration which runs it. Now certain people may have you believe that I'm a desperate figure, who's been trying to make a name for myself on the local political scene for years. Truth be told, until 30th April 2007, I had no virtually no interest in Council politics. I've been a long standing critic of the councils policy on road humps, but I see that as a road safety issue and my activity was limited to the odd letter to the local paper.

Other than that, I had no interest. It's easy to ignore bad things happening when they don't afffect you. On 30th April 2007, it all changed and the crass and heartless nature of the Council started to affect my family in a massive way. As a result of this, I realised just how dangerous the policies of our council was becoming. I believe that the 30th April 2007 was the day that my elderly and frail Mother started a decline which lead to her death 16 months later. It was the day on which she realised that he independence could be taken away by the council at any time. Sadly the council didn't learn from the cock up which occurred on this day. Quite the opposite, Mike Freer and his merry men decided that this had been such a good idea that they'd do the same to the rest of the services the council supply under the future shape program. At the time I didn't even know who did what in the council.

The following councillors received the email - The three from Mill Hill, the Leader (Mike Freer), the deputy Leader (then Matthew Offord) and a certain other councillor who shall remain nameless. I also included Former councillor Jane Ellison as she is a friend and I thought she may do something. To give Mill Hill councillor, John Hart his dues, he did his best and did help, but I must confess that my opinion of Barnet changed permanantly as a result. Anyway here's the email I sent.
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Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 8:33 PM

Subject: Matter of extreme urgency

As you may be aware the meals on wheels service provided by Barnet Council today changed operators. My mother, who is 81 years old and disbled following a stroke, generally relies on this service for a hot meal at lunchtimes. Under the previous provider, the meals would come without fail before 12 Noon. My mother was rather upset when the previous lady who delivered her dinner informed her that her company had lost the contract and a new supplier would be taking over. If you are familiar with the elderly, roiutine becomes a matter of paramount importance. Having already become unsettled by this change, my mother became extremely distressed when the meal did not arrive.

Eventually the meal was delivered at 5.10pm, over 5 hours later than usual. My sister who is visiting from America, was with my mother and was informed by the driver that the meal had been on the van since 13.00. It was completely dried up and inedible(to say nothing of the health risk of having a meal on a van that long). The delivery company informed my sister that there were at least 10 outstanding deliveries.

On inspection my sister drew the conclusion that the quality of the meal was also far inferior to the previous suppliers offering. My sister is a retired SRN and worked for the last 7 years in the USA in hospices, so she is familiar with dealing with elderly people. She was totally disgusted, not least to find that the helpline was permanently engaged.

I assume that the contract was changed on grounds of cost. When dealing with vital services such as this, PROPER PLANNING is paramount. Drivers should have been performing dry runs to familiarise themselves and should have acquainted themselves with the operating pattern of the previous supplier. All of this is what councils are meant to do. Fortunately for my mother, I anticipated this scenario and had arranged for my sister to delay her return to the USA just in case.

My mother has not had menu choices from the new company and is in a complete panic about the situation. I am sure she is not alone. I trust that between all of you, you will be able to resolve this matter ASAP and ensure that a quality service is resumed tomorrow. I trust you will get back to me ASAP to assure me that as councillors, this matter will be given the utmost priority by Barnet Council. I'm sure that the vast majority of lonely, vulnerable people in Barnet do not have someone to make there case, so I feel morally obliged to ensure this is sorted out.

I am sure that all of you became councillors to look after the weakest and most vulnerable people in Barnet and will be as horrified as I am to hear of this.
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The sad thing is that having read the Future Shape documents, Mike Freer's plans for an EasyCouncil and just about everything else they've done in the 2 years and 5 months that have elapsed since this cock up, it is clear that the people who run Barnet Council remember everything and learn nothing. I believe that the callous disregard for the weak and vulnerable of Barnet played a major part in the decline of my mothers health from this date. She was so stressed, she took to he bed and was never quite the same again. Sadly, I think this pattern will be repeated as wardens are cut and other services stripped out. My conscience won't let me sit back and say nothing.

That is why I started writing a blog.

Note : The picture at the top of the page is of my mum & the family at our house for her 80th Birthday party. She looked pretty good then for an 80 year old, this was before the Meals on Wheels contract was outsourced.