An MLC says he is ’alarmed’ that some Meals on Wheels recipients have not found an alternative supplier.

David Cretney MLC has contacted social care chiefs about the case of an elderly woman with ME who lives alone in Ramsey.

He wrote in his email: ’She is articulate and intelligent but is clearly housebound. Indeed, she spends most of her time in her bedroom.

’Yesterday was six days away from when the service is due to cease and I was alarmed when she told me that she had made no alternative arrangements with either of the two alternative providers.

’This made me wonder surely if this was the case she cannot be alone.’

He said he had contacted local care provider Hope Home Care who told him that they have several people on their books who have not made alternative arrangements.

Mr Cretney said: ’Both HHC and the individuals’ social workers have raised this as an issue but as things stand with less than a week to go before the current service is due to finish HHC have pledged to fill the gap in the interim by either cooking or shopping so these individuals are not left in a very difficult situation.’

Mr Cretney said he understood that up to 300 people, of which 84 were aged between 90 and 102, had been receiving Meals on Wheels.

’But more than that, it was for some, at least, a first point of contact and just as the postman can be a friendly face when needed,’ he said.

Mr Cretney forwarded questions raised by a charity, the Isle of Man Health and Care Association, to the DHSC but claimed the department had not given a response.

These questions covered guarantee of supply, value for money, impact on front line services and the nutritional value of the meals on offer.

The DHSC said of the 278 it confirmed were using the service as of October 31, 28 had ’not answered their telephone’ and ’further attempts would be undertaken to make contact this week’.

A total of 19 individuals have so far been identified as requiring a follow-up visit.

contract

The DHSC confirmed it had no contract with either provider, meaning it could not provide the assurances Isle of Man Health and Care Association and Mr Cretney were seeking. It said that the delivery method is a matter for ’arrangement between the company providing meals and service users’.

The department also confirmed ’as there is no contract with the DHSC, it would not be able to insist on drivers being DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checked’.

Despite this, Wiltshire Farm Foods insists on its website that all drivers require ’a police check, to make sure they are someone you can trust and rely on’.

When approached for comment on the issue of police checks, Jack Frost stated it had contacted the department regarding this ’but they have so far failed to reply’.

Former minister Kate Beecroft admitted the case highlighted by Mr Cretney was a ’worry’.