Calls for more time to deliver alternative Meals On Wheels
SAVE our Meals On Wheels campaigners are calling for an extra helping of time to come up with an alternative to replace the doomed service.
Deliveries in Oban and the islands provided by Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) volunteers are due to stop at the end of the March but Argyll and Bute councillor Roddy McCuish is asking for a six-month postponement.
Despite his request, the charity still insists the service cannot be extended although it is having ‘positive conversations’ about other ways it can continue to support older people.
NHS Highland has also confirmed ‘further discussions are ongoing to make sure that all RVS service users within the authority receive the appropriate level of care to meet their identified needs’.
The Oban Times last week broke the news that the RVS was withdrawing the service. It shocked and angered volunteers and community leaders, leading to fears that some of the area’s most vulnerable and isolated people would lose a link with the outside world.
Councillor McCuish said: ‘I’m disappointed in the way the RVS has done this. This was a UK decision. They took no account of Oban, Lorn and the islands. I would ask them to postpone their decision for six months so we have an opportunity to explore every avenue there is to see if we can somehow set up a new service ourselves.’
Volunteers on Tiree say they would need £4,000 a year to keep delivering hot meals to the eight islanders they visit four times a week.
John Bottomley, who has volunteered for six years and organises the rota for nine other helpers, said: ‘We are keen to continue it and intend to carry on but would need funding to help pay for the miles we do. We’ve been getting 45p a mile from the RVS, the clients pay for the meals themselves which are made here at a home. I appreciate £4,000 is not an insignificant amount.’
However, Sam Ward, director of commissioned services for the Royal Voluntary Service, said it would not be possible to extend the Meals On Wheels service.