FOR many elderly and vulnerable people the visits they get from care staff and support workers are the only ones they do get on a regular basis.

Some pensioners do not have relatives who can drop in on a daily basis – often sons, daughters and grandchildren live hundreds of miles away.

Oxfordshire County Council has been forced to push through millions of pounds worth of budget cuts because the funding it expects from central government is no longer being provided.

This has left thousands of people who rely on vital social care, including children’s centres, fearing for the future.

But the latest bid for savings will leave a particularly vulnerable section of society feeling uncared for and virtually abandoned.

Pensioner Betty McDowell has eloquently expressed the frustration that will no doubt be felt by thousands of other pensioners.

After working her whole life she now feels as if she is being pushed aside.

At the moment the county council is struggling to cover the costs of social care and the whole system needs to be overhauled urgently so the county’s most vulnerable are not left increasingly isolated.