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Report Calls for Funding for
Meals-On-Wheels
By Elaine Edwards, Irish Times
Ireland
November 6, 2008
Significant funding is needed from the State to improve the service for up to 12,000 older people who avail of the largely voluntary meals-on-wheels service, a report said today.
A survey on the role and future development of the service said greater support from the Government, and in particular the Health Service Executive (HSE) was needed to ensure that the meals-on-wheels service is of the highest standard.
The report found most older people began to use the service after returning home from hospital or after a deterioration in their general health. A small number said they could not cook or were not able to shop for themselves.
On average, meals-on-wheels provided people with nearly a third of their recommended daily food intake. Some clients said they did not cook a main meal on days that a meal was not delivered.
Almost 89 per cent of staff providing meals under the scheme are voluntary and the report suggested that drivers should perhaps be paid a fuel allowance.
Deficiencies in the scheme include the significant variation in services operating in each county, the report found.
It said there is also variation in compliance with health and safety regulations and the absence of regulations that would guarantee minimal nutritional standards for the older people who use the service.
The researchers suggest the establishment of a national database to improve planning.
The report was commissioned by the National Council on Ageing and Older People and carried out by researchers at the Social Policy and Ageing Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin.
It suggests three possible models for the development of the service in the future, including improving the current service, but with voluntary organisations continuing to operate it with more financial support from the State.
The alternatives are to contract the provision of the meals-on-wheels service to community and voluntary private sector companies, staffed by paid employees, or to restructure the current services provided by volunteers, with the HSE taking responsibility for food production.
Minister of State for Older People Maire Hoctor said the report provided for the first time a “snapshot” of the meals-on-wheels service in Ireland.
She said it supported the internationally recognised benefits that the service has for the health and general well-being of older people.
“It also highlights the importance of the service as vital source of social contact and connectivity to the wider community.”
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© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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