Increase in elderly puts pressure on meals on wheels

More than one in five people aged over 75 now receive meals on wheels, the national conference of the Advisory Body for Social Services Catering was told last week (12 September).

The conference, which was held in Coventry, was told by David Behan, director of social services in the London borough of Greenwich, that the continuing increase in the number of elderly people would put great pressure on caterers.

He said: "This increase, which is expected to continue for the next 10 years, will be especially difficult to handle because there will be fewer young people, who both pay the taxes which fund social services and help to provide the care."

Behan highlighted the particularly sharp increase in those over 85 and observed that people were staying healthier for much longer and were more sophisticated in the demands they put on social services. "Expectations are rising. They are much choosier," he said.

Another social development putting more stress on social services, said Behan, was that because children routinely moved to different parts of the country from their parents, care of the elderly by their children was often impossible. But he added: "On the other hand there are sometimes surprising sources of help. There are cases, for instance, because of multiple marriages, where someone can end up helping the mother of their previous wife.

"It is quite possible they can remain closer to their ex-mother-in-law than to their ex-wife."

Other trends noted by Behan included an expected 167% increase in "ethnic elders" in his borough in the next 10 years. He said he had recently been to his first 100th birthday party for someone of Afro-Caribbean origin.

by David HarrisSource: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 19-25 September 2002