Elderly Hampshire woman let down by meals on wheels service

Vivyan Phipp relies on Apetito for her lunch

An elderly woman was left without lunch on 13 occasions as a meals on wheels company failed to deliver her food.

Vivyan Phipp, 95, from Hampshire, has dementia and relies on the Apetito service to receive her main meal each day.

But since the 18 July she has not had her meals delivered on 13 different days, including five in a row.

Apetito has apologised and said it had been unable to access its delivery schedules due to a recent cyber attack.

Mrs Phipp's son Jeremy said it was thanks to his mother's doorbell camera that he found out her meals had not been delivered.

"She was wandering out into the drive and back in several times about the time that her lunch was supposed to be there and it just didn't come,"he said.

Mr Phipp said the 18 July was the first time his mother had not had her meal delivered

He contacted the company but said the meals were not delivered on a number of other occasions.

"It was pretty distressing for me, it made me quite angry about the fact that they were just not delivering," Mr Phipp said.

"I just was frustrated and upset about the fact that she didn't get the opportunity to eat."

Apetito has a contract with Hampshire County Council to provide three-course meals to residents with dementia.

The authority apologised and said it had contacted the company.

Apetito said a recent cyber attack meant the firm had not been able to access its electronic meal delivery schedules.

In a statement the company said: "Using paper records, we are making every attempt to deliver to all those who should receive a meals on wheels delivery.

"We understand how important these meals are and can only apologise to anyone who may not have received their anticipated meal."

Apetito provides hot meals to people with dementia

The firm said Mrs Phipp would continue to receive meals again on a regular basis.

Customers have been urged to contact Apetito directly should they not receive their meals.

Last month another Hampshire resident said his mother had been left with no food on one of the hottest days of the year.