7 days a week for Meals on Wheels!

Cardiff Council's Meals on Wheels service is launching a seven-days-a-week delivery service later this month.

From April 28, an important milestone will be reached when customers across Cardiff will be able to enjoy hot, nutritious meals delivered to their home at weekends as well as during the week, for 365 days a year.

Cabinet Member for Social Care, Health and Wellbeing, Cllr Susan Elsmore, said: "Our Meals on Wheels service has grown from strength to strength and taken great strides since relaunching less than 12 months ago. For the first time, we delivered over Christmas and Easter bank holidays, and I'm delighted to announce that we will now be extending the service to Saturdays and Sundays.

"We listened to our customers when they told us that they would love to have our meals on weekends as well.

"This service is about much more than food. The meals are delicious, of course, but for some our staff may be only people they see throughout the day, so the service plays an even greater role in ensuring individuals feel less lonely or isolated.

"Indeed, for many customers, our service is a real lifeline. None more so than during the recent snow storms when our teams battled through really tough conditions to ensure older and vulnerable people would receive a hot meal that day."

The Council has been delivering Meals on Wheels to vulnerable people across the city since 1978, and is now available to more people than ever before.

Customers canrefer themselves to the service or be referred by family, friends, neighbours, or health or social care professionals.

Individuals who meet one of the following criteria can now receive the service:

• Those having difficulty preparing a meal safely
• Those liable to self-neglect or would eat an inappropriate diet without the service
• Those unable to shop for food
• Those who have a mental or physical disability
• Those needing support due to recovery from hospitalisation or illness; carer illness or holiday, or bereavement. 

The affordable service caters for people of all ages, not just older people, and customers can choose when and how often they would like to receive meals. A wide selection of meals, catering for a variety of diets, conditions and choices are available from £3.90 a day, delivered free of charge by our friendly team.

The service provides peace of mind for customers and their families and complements the City Council's response and warden service, Telecare Cardiff, which helps people to live independently in their own homes for longer.

To find out more about Meals on Wheels visitwww.cardiff.gov.uk/mealsonwheels