Tuesday - May 12, 2009

Council says ‘you’re not disabled enough for meals on wheels’. How’s this for contrast to next story

Elderly couple live on cornflakes and sandwiches after council says ‘you’re not disabled enough for meals on wheels’
By ANDY DOLAN
Last updated at 3:23 PM on 12th May 2009

An elderly couple who are too frail to leave their home have been refused meals on wheels after a council ruled they were not disabled enough to qualify for the service.

Wallace Rowley, 91, and wife Lillian, 89, live on cornflakes for breakfast, ham sandwiches for lunch and a cup of Horlicks in the evening because they are unable to cook for themselves.

The only hot meal they receive during the week comes courtesy of a neighbour who provides them with occasional ready meals which she warms up for them.

Today, a former councillor who is backing the couple said it was ‘obscene’ that elderly people could be left ‘starving to death in their own homes’ because they did not meet ‘restrictive’ eligibility criteria.

The pensioners, who have been married for 68 years, asked for help from Coventry City Council in December as their failing health was leaving them increasingly weak and unable to cook.

Mrs Rowley suffers from crippling rheumatoid arthritis in her arms and legs which means she can barely carry a plate, open the microwave door or push the button to start the kettle boiling.

Her husband has high blood pressure - causing dizzy spells and fainting which could be potentially dangerous in a kitchen if he were to attempt to cook - and ulcerations on his legs, meaning he can only stand for minutes at a time in any case.

Both need Zimmer frames but claim a council worker who assessed them said they ‘were not disabled enough’ to qualify for meals on wheels because they were capable of dressing themselves.

Mr Rowley, a former factory worker who served with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment during World War II in Northern Ireland and Holland, said: ‘I am old and haggard and fought for my country but I feel like I’ve been thrown on the scrapheap.

‘We’ve paid our national insurance contributions all our lives but when we need help in our old age, the state turns its back on us. We’re desperate and feel abandoned.’

He said the social worker who was sent to assess them at their bungalow in Potters Green, Coventry, laughed when they explained their predicament and joked about sending somebody to teach them to cook baked potatoes.

Mrs Rowley, a retired cleaner, added: ‘If I keep eating microwave meals and sandwiches, I’ll go mad.

‘All we can do now is look at these four walls. It’s not safe for us to cook as we don’t have the strength in our arms and legs.’

Guidelines for Coventry City Council social care were tightened in 2005 to exclude meals on wheels for people whose needs were rated ‘moderate’ or ‘low’.

A social worker now has to class the couple as having a ‘critical’ or substantial need for help.

Former Labour councillor Brian Patton, who has taken up the Rowleys’ plight, said the move was purely to save money.

He said: ‘It’s obscene in this day and age that you could have elderly and disabled people starving to death in their own homes who have money and can afford to pay for services but can’t get them because the eligibility criteria is too restrictive.’

Neighbour Lynn Brooker, 46, who brings the couple meals such as cottage pie or roast chicken, said the council had treated the Rowleys ‘appallingly’.

She added: ‘They can’t even get a meal out the oven without dropping it.

‘I just can’t believe they don’t qualify for help.’

The Rowleys have one son Les, 57 - a web developer who lives on his own 15 miles away in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire - and no grandchildren.

Leslie doesn’t have a car but takes meals when he visits each weekend.

Today he said: ‘Social services have let mum and dad down. It’s an outrage that old people can be left to rot in their own homes. What exactly is social services for?’

The council recently raised the cost of the meals by 40 per cent to £4.10 a meal as part of multi-million pound budget cuts.

It said the couple wanted to try meals on wheels out of choice, not necessity.

A spokesman said: ‘A social worker visited Mr and Mrs Rowley and found that both were able to meet their own needs for shopping and hot food and wanted to try home meals as a choice.

‘The outcome was that their needs were assessed as moderate, and did not meet the criteria in terms of being critical or substantial.

‘If their circumstances change through health problems, then a further assessment could take place.’

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Something isn’t quite right about this.  I feel sorry for them.  Their son is 57 and has no car. ? Visits them on wkends.  They say they have all these ailments but someone assessed them and found that they were able to go shopping. ??? How they manage that?
Hey, if the old boy is 91 I can well believe he needs help and his wife too.  Even if things weren’t really,really as bad as they say they are, I’d rather give a hand to help them then give the cash to politicians so they can live in a lifestyle I can’t afford. Of course not. How can I afford it when I’m helping to pay for theirs?

Posted by peiper     on 05/12/2009 at 10:34 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Health-Medicine • Miscellaneous • UK •  
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