Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Jay Isden's mother Lyn lost two dress sizes
A project is being launched to raise awareness of malnutrition among elderly people, with government backing.
Nearly a million over-65s in England suffer from untreated malnutrition, says charity Age UK - almost all of whom are in the community.
The project will aim to identify individuals in this group and support those who need help to eat properly.
Age UK, which is leading the work, said it wanted to ensure people did not "slip through the net".
More hospital admissionsThe Malnutrition Prevention Project will begin in January.
There will be pilots in five areas, including Lambeth in south London and Salford, and these will involve hospitals, GPs, social care, care homes and community groups.
The project will target people with low body mass index [that is, people who are underweight] and those who appear to be losing weight without trying - signs that are often wrongly seen as a normal part of ageing.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Dr Mike Stroud, from the Malnutrition Task Force, says the project will focus on helping the elderly in homes, hospitals and care homes
It is part of the government's response to the Francis report into events at Stafford Hospital - which found patients, many of them elderly, had not been able to eat or drink properly and that nutrition was not treated as a priority.
However, research has shown that 93% of malnourished older people are in the community.
Being malnourished can mean medication is less effective if it should be taken on a full stomach - and this makes it harder to recover from illness.
Compared with well-nourished people, those who are malnourished see their GP twice as often, have three times the number of hospital admissions and stay in hospital more than three days longer, the experts behind the project say.
Eating social activityDianne Jeffrey, chairman of Age UK, also chairs the Malnutrition Task Force expert group behind the project.
She said eating and drinking properly was "critical to being healthy and remaining independent".
But, she added, malnutrition went untreated and undiagnosed in "nearly one million older people in England"
"We hope that by working closely with hospitals, GP surgeries and care homes, we can tackle this hidden problem and help ensure that older people do not slip through the net."
David McCullough, chief executive of the Royal Voluntary Service, a charity that helps older people stay active, told BBC Radio 5 Live: "This is not a money problem, it is about the sort of changes people go through when they get older.
"A lot of us think that part of getting older is losing weight but it is not a standard thing and is an indication of people not eating properly.
"Eating on your own is not much fun - eating is something, for most of us, we do with friends and family.
"When people are stuck at home alone they tend to eat less and drink less and that has really quite profound consequences for their health."
The Task Force will bring together a number of organisations and parts of the community to deal with the issue.
"We want to raise awareness and figure out the easy ways of us all identifying this problem so that we can jump in and deal with it," Mr McCullough added.
Health minister Dan Poulter said: "Many people think of malnutrition as a problem that only affects the third world.
"But the reality is that over three million people in the UK have the potential to become malnourished - many of whom are frail and elderly."
He said action was needed. "Carers and NHS staff will be better equipped to identify, tackle and prevent malnutrition - so older people get better care and receive more support in their own homes and communities."
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Spotlight on elderly malnutrition
Dengan url
http://beritaberbagiceria.blogspot.com/2013/12/spotlight-on-elderly-malnutrition.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Spotlight on elderly malnutrition
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Spotlight on elderly malnutrition
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar