MORE than a third of Newport's elderly meals-on-wheels clients are actually not eligible for the service, council bosses were told.

But new figures, published as part of the city council's review of the service, also show a significant minority of clients would have difficulty heating meals themselves and would otherwise receive little or no social contact.

There was public outcry earlier this year when the council decided it would axe meals on wheels and replace it with a private frozen meals provider to save £114,000.

Following pressure from service clients and Argus readers the council decided to review its position.

Yesterday councillors heard the first of a series of reports into the issue.

The report showed that 51 of the service's current 143 clients are not, in fact, eligible for the scheme.

Eligibility is decided by social workers who assess whether the elderly client is able to shop, cook or heat food for themselves.

A questionnaire sent by social service bosses to all meals-on-wheels clients also found that 64 of those who met the criteria for meals on wheels, regularly received social contact.

But 34 of the elderly who responded to the questionnaire told council bosses they had very little social contact, were housebound, unable to go out unaccompanied or rarely went out.

Brian Jones, social services strategy manager, said: "It is fair to say that a significant minority have very little social contact and the meals service could be quite an event in their week."

And while 86 clients said they owned a freezer, 41 said they were not capable of heating a meal on their own.

Newport council's scrutiny forum for older people's services, which is conducting the review, is to hold a special meeting on May 26 to discuss further reports before it makes a final decision on whether to go ahead with the scheme.

It has already sent letters to bodies such as Age Concern Gwent and Newport Older People's Forum asking for their views. .

* Send your comments to: Lisa Stevens, Meals on Wheels, South Wales Argus, Cardiff Road, Newport NP20 3QN or email lisa.stevens@gwent-wales.co.uk