Meals Services
What are Meals Services?
What does
it cost?
How do I get
it?
What are Meals Services?
Meals Services (sometimes referred to as "meals on wheels") are prepared meals which can be delivered to you at home if you have difficulty in shopping for food or preparing meals for yourself. These can be provided on a short or long-term basis.
Some Meals Services deliver hot meals while others deliver frozen meals so that you, your carer or home care worker can re-heat them to suit your own meal times. You can usually select from a choice of meals, and special diets can be catered for.
Some providers of frozen meals may also provide the loan of a freezer or microwave. Some Local Authorities can provide a shopping service with refrigerated vans and someone to put items away in cupboards.
What does it cost?
For Meals Services provided by your Local Authority, there is usually a small charge per meal.
The cost of any services provided by your Local Authority will be set out in their charging policy. You can ask your Social Work Department for a copy of this.
For more details about paying for care services, see our section on How do I pay for care?
How do I get it?
You do not always need an Assessment of your Care Needs to access Meals Services. Ask your Social Work Department what their policy is on providing Meals Services. However, when you call, you may be offered an Assessment of your Care Needs.
Meals Services may be provided by the Local Authority or they may contract this service out to a private firm.
Several private firms offer meal services direct to the public. You can find these services in the Yellow Pages
You can also find details of Meal Services in our Care Services
Directory.
last updated 15/03/2011
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