Benefits of Meals on Wheels – a film made by University of Bristol’s School for Policy Studies

Short version of 2 minutes, Welsh subtitles available

Long version of 7 minutes, Welsh subtitles available

Why we research Meals on Wheels

The social care system in the UK is facing immense financial pressures, and carers employed through social care agencies are not always allocated enough time to cook a nutritious meal. At the same time, the Care Act 2014 legislates the need for services that ‘help prevent people developing needs for care and support, or delay people deteriorating such that they would need ongoing care and support‘.

Despite the preventive role that Meals on Wheels could have, the service is not statutory. Many councils have stopped providing Meals on Wheels due to budget cuts. Providers from the non-profit and private sectors also face financial challenges given the current cost of living crisis. The lack of Meals on Wheels services could lead to high numbers of adults moving into care homes, thus increasing pressures within the social care system.

Our research wants to understand the role that Meals on Wheels has in social care in the UK, and how they could help improve social care delivery in the future. We also want to investigate the wider benefits of using Meals on Wheels and the challenges faced by Meals on Wheels providers and commissioners of the service.

Our collaborative projects use a variety of methods, and our findings have been published in various academic journals. We regularly present our work at both academic conferences (e.g. British Society of Gerontology) and professional meetings (e.g. National Association for Care Catering). We support, and participate in, the National Meals on Wheels Week. You can view the workshop we organised for Meals on Wheels Week 2023 here.

We hope that our work can help raise awareness of Meals on Wheels in the UK, so that more adults with care and support needs can benefit from the service.

Mapping Meals on Wheels provision: developing and testing an interactive map to raise awareness of services
Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council Impact Accelerator Account, project A100505, May-October 2024

This project aims to develop an interactive map of Meals on Wheels providers in the UK. The map will signpost users to Meals on Wheels providers delivering to their area, after having typed a postcode or street address, and will help identify gaps in Meals on Wheels provision.

Photo courtesy Ageing Better

Models of Meals on Wheels provision in England: a rapid review
Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research; Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board Research Capability Funding, May-July 2023

This study conducted desktop research (publicly available online information) to identify and document the Meals on Wheels services currently being provided in England, alongside basic characteristics of provision. This work informed the interactive map of Meals on Wheels providers that you can find in this website.

Photo courtesy Monmouthshire CC © 2024

The significance of home-delivered meals among Meals on Wheels service users and their referrers: co-producing knowledge translation tools to add value to qualitative findings
Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, School for Social Care Research, May-July 2023

This project used findings from our earlier qualitative study to co-produce, with people with lived experience of Meals on Wheels, two infographics and a film to raise awareness of Meals on Wheels and their benefits.

View publication: Papadaki A, Willis P, Armstrong MEG, Cameron A (2024) From research to knowledge translation: co-producing resources to raise awareness of Meals on Wheels in England. Health Expectations 27:e14106

Exploring the significance of home-delivered meals among Meals on Wheels service users and their referrers: a qualitative study
Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, School for Social Care Research, March-June 2022

This project explored the experiences with Meals on Wheels of service users and people who refer them to Meals on Wheels, and their perceptions with accessing and commencing the service in England, the barriers that might hinder service uptake, and what information would be valued when considering accessing the service.

View publication: Papadaki A, Wakeham M, Ali B, Armstrong MEG, Cameron A, Willis P (2023) “The Service, I Could Not Do without It…”: A qualitative study exploring the significance of Meals on Wheels among service users and people who refer them to the service. Health & Social Care in the Community 23.

View publication: Papadaki A, Wakeham M, Ali B, Armstrong MEG, Willis P, Cameron A (2024) Accessing Meals on Wheels: A qualitative study exploring the experiences of service users and people who refer them to the service. Health Expectations 27: e13943

Photo courtesy Ageing Better

Exploring the experiences of community service providers delivering meals to self-isolating adults during COVID-19
Funded by the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research, Wellcome Trust, September-December 2020

This project explored Meals on Wheels service providers’ experiences, and their perceptions around the benefits and challenges faced by the service, and how these experiences changed during the first UK national lockdown.

View publication: Papadaki A, Ali B, Cameron A, Armstrong MEG, Isaacs P, Thomas KS, Gadbois EA, Willis P (2022) ‘It’s not just about the dinner; it’s about everything else that we do’: A qualitative study exploring how Meals on Wheels meet the needs of self-isolating adults during COVID-19. Health & Social Care in the Community 30: e2012-e2021.

Photo courtesy Ageing Better