Because of the financial restrictions placed on the budget for adult social care, this is the last week we will receive care for my wife directly from social services, through their Home Support Service.

From now on we will have to manage our own affairs, using a private agency.

The realisation that we will no longer have contact with our carers, who we have come to regard as friends, has suddenly hit me very hard indeed.

To lose a single friend is bad enough, but to lose a whole group of friends is extremely painful, and, quite frankly, I am sat here with tears in my eyes, thinking about this.

My one regret is that I never got to tell them how much I appreciated all the help and support they gave me, so that I could look after my wife at home for more than 10 years now.

I thank them from the bottom of my heart for every single day of those years.

I thank them for the cheery greetings every morning and night, and for not just doing their job, but for really caring for my Daphne, and twice identifying she was developing a life-threatening condition.

I thank them for struggling to reach us through the worst of winter weather, and, finally, just for being our friends.

These are probably the saddest words I shall ever write. Goodbye to all our friends at the Home Support Service; we are sad to be parting like this and will really miss you. Bob Hounslow, Squires Close, Brize Norton