I’M afraid I have to take issue with the way you have reported proposed changes in our community meals service and the way it will operate, including factual inaccuracy that will, I am sure, unnecessarily worry vulnerable people.

I would like to make the following points.

There is no way frail elderly people will be left to heat up their own frozen meals. We will be assessing each and every one.

Only those who are perfectly capable of heating up their own meals and, in many cases, want to do so because of the freedom and flexibility it gives them will be doing so.

This is not a cost-cutting exercise. We have gone out to provide a more robust and better quality service for our clients which takes into account cultural tastes and dietary preferences.

This will be a consistent, 365 day a year service, whereas the current WRVS service only covers Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays and other days and areas where volunteers could not be found.

There was one day recently when a WRVS volunteer failed to turn up or to tell people he/she would not be delivering that day.

Fourteen people were left without a meal. We will not have those kind of problems with the new contractor.

Fresh CM staff are trained to look after vulnerable people and report any change in circumstances to adult social care. Service users will be regularly served by the same member of staff – on a more frequent basis than WRVS volunteers – and will soon build good, caring relationships with them. The WRVS themselves would admit that they would not have been able to provide the whole-county, 365 day a year service we require using a volunteer based service.

The WRVS did bid for the contract on the basis of employing drivers rather than volunteers but their bid did not demonstrate that they could offer best value for money. Paid WRVS employees will be offered employment by Fresh CM and WRVS volunteers will be employed by Fresh CM if they make a successful job application to the company.

WRVS volunteers have been written to reminding them of other worthwhile contributions they can make to the community, such as hospital shops, etc.

This does not mean I am dismissing the valuable help we have received from the WRVS in the past and I thank them sincerely for that help. I am sure our service users will miss them and I hope they will accept my reassurance that the people who will be serving them in future will be equally caring and concerned for their well-being.

However, I am sure most WRVS volunteers know, and would accept that, we are acting in the best interests of the people they care for. Times have moved on, with more people working and unable to offer their free time to care for our vulnerable residents. We must make sure we have a modern service that fully addresses these vulnerable people’s needs.

Cllr Hugh Carey Portfolio holder for adult social care Buckinghamshire County Council