West Sussex County Council has selected Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) to deliver Meals on Wheels across the region for five years from November. Under the new contract it will deliver over 350,000 meals to individuals and 12,500 meals to day centres a year.
This partnership will see Compass supplying the charity with Steamplicity meals. These meals are cooked as required in minutes, using fresh food under steam pressure to retain all the taste and goodness of the ingredients.
Choice of over 30 nutritious meals
There are over 30 nutritious meals to choose from including traditional favourites, and various special diets will also be catered for. Compass, RVS and West Sussex County Council will review and update menus twice a year based on customer feedback.
In an improvement to the current service, customers will be able to choose their meal the day before delivery and opt to receive it hot or chilled. Dishes can either be cooked from fresh en route to the customer in a specially developed delivery vehicle – or if chilled, they can be steamed (using the Compass special steam valve cooking technology), in the recipient’s microwave at the next mealtime.
Excellent feedback from Brighton & Hove
The new partnership approach to Meals on Wheels between Royal Voluntary Service and Compass is being piloted in Brighton & Hove and already resulting in excellent feedback. The contract with West Sussex is the first in what both parties hope will be many opportunities to enhance the Meals on Wheels experience provided to people across the UK.
Introduced to market in 2004 via Compass’ Healthcare business, the Steamplicity portfolio includes plated meals for individuals, a vending solution and a multi-portion offer.