"The service is there for people who need it for emergencies, and it's like taking an ambulance away...An extra fiver a week for a sick or disabled person is scandalous"
The Salford Star understands that hundreds of elderly and ill people are in danger after cancelling their Care On Call service following the introduction of charges by Salford City Council.
Care On Call is an emergency 24 hour, seven day a week telephone and mobile response service, formerly used by around 4,500 people in Salford, mostly over 65. Through use of a pendant or bracelet, Care on Call responds to alarms when they have falls in their homes and other problems.
Previously the service was subsidised by the Council to keep it affordable but the Council has withdrawn funding as part of its cuts programme and now charges vulnerable people the full amount of £4.82 per week for the standard service and up to £10 a week for enhanced visits.
In a Salford Council consultation on the cut to Care On Call, published in June, the majority of people who responded didn't think it was fair to charge the full amount, with 123 people saying they couldn't afford it.
Now the Salford Star believes around five hundred old and vulnerable people have cancelled the vital service after the charges were introduced. One of them was Reg Howard from Swinton, who lives on his own and has COPD, osteoarthritis and diabetes, and has had a series of mini-strokes.
"I have multiple illnesses, in fact if I was a horse they'd shoot me" says Reg "But the hospital sent Care On Call round after I had a mini stroke. Since then I've had two more mini strokes to which Care On Call very quickly responded and got an ambulance for me and everything.
Reg had to use the service three times, twice for mini-strokes and once for a fall... "I had a little pendant on my wrist, pressed a button and I could speak direct to them or, if I couldn't speak, they had the key to my front door and they could come in. On one occasion they needed to do that.
"It was really, really good I can't praise them enough" he adds "If I wouldn't have had the service, one of two things would have happened I could have got to my phone, or died, basically. I don't get many visitors."
Now Reg has cancelled the service... "We got a letter from the Council saying that all those people who didn't pay would now have to pay £4.82 a week" he explains "All my outgoings are accounted for, so an extra £5 a week has to come from something, probably the house keeping. I could have paid it but I would have had to do without something else on my budget.
"It's other people I'm worried about" he adds "In my life, I try to look after the interests of the old and disabled. And, as I'm 74 and disabled, I meet a lot of people and know how they struggle. An extra fiver a week for a sick or disabled person is scandalous. The Council know exactly who they have hit - not everybody, just those who couldn't afford it in the first place!"
When Care On Call came to pick up Reg's equipment, he was told that he was amongst hundreds of other elderly and sick people to have given up the service since the charges were introduced.
"When I was told there were over five hundred people who had given up Care On Call I was gobsmacked" says Reg "That's five hundred people, including me, who are vulnerable. If I fall - and my knees can go any time because I've got osteoarthritis I don't know what will happen. The service is there for people who need it for emergencies, and it's like taking an ambulance away. It's for the community."
The figures Reg was quoted have also been confirmed to the Salford Star by another source, who said the amount of people now without a Care On Call service was `substantial'
The Salford Star approached Care On Call for a comment but no-one responded. The Salford Star also asked Salford Council for a comment but its press office didn't even acknowledge the email.
* In July, three Salford Labour Councillors tried to `call-in' over £4million cuts to services for vulnerable adults in the city but the Council's Scrutiny Committee, with a massive majority of other Labour Councillors, rejected the plea to reconsider the cuts. Read the Salford Star article - click here
See also previous Salford Star article: Salford Council's New Tory Style Dickensian DIY Welfare click here
Main photo of Reg by Steven Speed
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