Meals on Wheels for old people / by Amelia I. Harris.

  • Great Britain. Central Office of Information. Social Survey Division
Date:
[1961]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Meals on Wheels for old people / by Amelia I. Harris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    It would seem reasonable to assume from these data that the availability of volunteers is likely to play some part in deciding whether a meals-on-wheels service exists in any area in England and Wales. It is not possible to make a comparison of the economic status of areas in Scotland with meals-on- wheels schemes. In Scotland, a higher proportion of schemes are run by independent Old Peoples Welfare Committees which do not rely to such a great extent on voluntary labour - so it well might be that this conclusion does not hold for Scotland. The availability of volunteers might also affect the number of recipients covered by schemes in England and Wales. In London, there are meals-on- wheels services operating in 25 of the 28 Metropolitan Boroughs. Table 74 shows the ratio of recipients to general population according to economic status of the Borough. TAB Towle, a7 Economic status i Number of recipients Met iaiide ie (J-index) per 1000 population etropols as of London 4.0 and over (highest) 0.87 6 = 320) awe 0.69 9 =- 250) a=) 529 | 0.40 5 2 | Under 2 (lowest) | 0.99 5 * | = | All ind indices | 0.70 25 H 3 It will be seen that apart from the very poorest Boroughs, the number of recipients per 1000 population rises as the economic status of the Borough rises. This same pattern emerges when the whole of the London area is examined, which accounts for just over 21% of all recipients, and although it is not so clear-cut for other Regions, there is a general tendency for this to hold good for all standard Regions of England and Wales. Does income level effect the need for meals-on-wheels? Although a high income does not necessarily mean that the supply of meals is refused, it is possible that older people with a low income level might in fact have a greater need for the meal, since they would not be able to afford to pay someone to cook for them. Where they could cook for them- selves if someone were to do the shopping, there is still a problem of shop- pers not taking the trouble to stretch a low income by buying at the cheapest prices, or searching out bargains. A comparison between the incomes of recipients and of the sample of older people is given in table 75 opposite. =,58°%
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