Meals on Wheels

What is meals on wheels?

Meals on wheels provides a quality daily meals service for vulnerable people direct to their door. The service is partly funded by Hertfordshire County Council and aims to enable vulnerable people to maintain independent lives.

Who is eligible to receive the service?

Anyone who is unable to provide meals for themselves is eligible. When applying for the meals service, a Client Services (see the contact details below) call handler will go the through eligibility criteria which will help to confirm whether the customer is eligible.

Who delivers the meals?

The service is provided by a not-for-profit social enterprise, Hertfordshire Community Meals (HCM). Established in 2007, HCM currently employs over 130 staff, and delivers meals to around 2000 clients across all 10 districts in the county, including North Hertfordshire.

The Hertfordshire Community Meals website is currently under construction and is expected to go live in February 2012.

What service is provided?

Clients can decide how many days they wish to receive a meal. A menu is given to clients with five choices of main meal and three desserts to choose from each day. These are chosen in advance, and ensure that there is something that everyone will enjoy. The meals also include salads, Kosher, Halal, vegetarian, Asian, and other ethnic options. Meals to meet a range of dietary needs including low salt, diabetic, and soft options can also be delivered. If a client does not like particular things, arrangements can be made to ensure that they do not receive them.

Herts Community Meals will provide meals for as long as the clients want them. It may be only a few meals that are needed to help recovery from a hospital stay or whilst family and friends are away. If a client decides that a meal is not required, it can be cancelled easily by phoning HCM’s administration team before 8.30 on the morning the meal is not required, or by phoning the Letchworth Garden City office or telling the meal service deliverer in advance:

Tel: 01462 678423

letchworth@hertscommunitymeals.co.uk

The meal will be delivered between 11.30am and 1.30pm. The meal service deliverer will be happy to hand the meal to the client at the door, or to bring the meal inside, plate it, and fetch a glass of water if required. If the client seems unwell, or has not eaten a previous meal, this will reported to the administration team who will call the next of kin to make them aware.

For security reasons HCM meal delivery staff can never leave a meal outside a client’s house or with a neighbour. As the meals are at the perfect temperature when they are delivered, they should be eaten as soon as possible and never be reheated.

Who do I contact to get meals on wheels?

The customer, or someone on behalf of the customer, can contact Hertfordshire County Council's Customer Service Centre on 0300 123 4042.

If you are already a HCM customer or if you would like more information about HCM’s services, please contact the Letchworth Garden City office: