SOCIAL care recipients of Harrow packed the civic centre last night to hear the cabinet approve changes to the way services will be provided.
Around 60 people filled the meeting rooms to hear discussion surrounding the changes, which will see around 900 residents pay more towards their social care from next spring.
The cost of meals on wheels will not go up.
Alan Warn, a social care recipient at the Mill Woods Resource Centre in Pinner, attended the meeting and briefly spoke to the gathered crowd.
He said: "I have been invited to attend a lot of meetings and I can see the extent of the situation, which we now face. All the information I have been given, I have given back to the centres and they have communicated it to all other service users to give them a clearer view of what is taking place."
Maureen McGrath, who is also a service user, said: "The people I represent do not agree with most of it, although we do in fact realise that some of them have to happen. It has been a long time coming and it has been a long journey."
Harrow Council's social care portfolio holder Councillor Margaret Davine (Labour) said: "The consultation has been very wide reaching, we have listened to what our residents have said and changed things accordingly.
"The recommendations that we have before us have been revised as a result of residents' feedback. We hope that everyone is happy as is absolutely possible."
Stanmore resident Joan Penrose, a former service user having suffered from depression, reacted to the changes after the meeting.
She described free bus travel as "a key to the world" for those suffering with mental health problems, and raised serious concerns about the changes being made by Harrow Council.
She said: "I am most concerned about the changes to Freedom Passes. Free travel means so much to people with depression and other mental health problems, it gives them freedom and day to day normality that they need so much. For them to take the pass away from some people will be a gut wrenching blow, it really concerns me."
