Care conundrum

Our Communities in Need appeal has discovered that nearly 200,000 pensioners are living in poverty across the region – the equivalent to a city the size of York.

Public sector spending is being cut to such an extent many are becoming immune to each piece of foreboding news. However those most in need, unable to speak up for themselves, must be remembered when the savings starts to bite. Vital support services such as winter heating allowances, hot meals and home visits have to be protected in the growing spending conundrum over social care. While the Government has increased NHS spending, albeit marginally, local councils are losing more than a quarter of their funding and have now been tasked with scaling back front-line projects.

There is little point boosting the Health Service's coffers if greater pressure is then exerted on community services. To suggest that vital funds could not be saved from the seemingly endless layers of NHS management is clearly wrong – there is little doubt this was a political move rather than an economic necessity. In the Westminster melee for headline grabbing-policies, pensioners like 79-year-old Wakefield widow June Fisher, who relies on a charity befriending service for support, must not be left to fend for themselves.