Elderly people are being starved...

[AB Asks]

Elderly people are being starved in care homes and hospitals. This is the shocking claim made my health minister Ivan Lewis. He launches an official campaign this week to improve the quality of food the elderly receive.

Help the Aged have been campaigning against such issues for years and hope now that the Government gives the problem the attention it needs. Does it anger you that after a lifetime's service to the country elderly people are not given the care they need? How do we combat a problem like this?

[dummkopf]

Maybe an older 'celebrity' chef - Worral Thompson ?
could be made aware of the situation and brought in to do what Jamie Oliver did for the kids school meals.

[samuel23]

I have to defend the NHS here. My elderly mother was in St Thomas's Hospital for a very serious heart operation and the food and treatment she received were absolutely first class. The only downside was the need to free up her bed as soon as possible. She had a menu card with various options on it, three meals a day and tea and coffee too. Anything that she wanted that wasn't provided could be bought at the very well stocked shop. This was staffed by polite people and open for long hours.

[kwicky]

Elderly people now represent a huge portion of the voting community. Any government that targets this group will suffer badly at the next general election.
As this problem also applies to private care homes the conclusion must be that staff are either overworked or not capable of supplying human needs.

[brachiopod]

i will not contribute to this corporate question.

[Whickerman]

Why is this question in pink and sticking to the page top - I missed most of yesterday's questions thinking that this was the newest one and didn't read further.

Please explain!!!!

[idalovett]

I don't know where this information comes from but as a care nurse having worked in many care homes I can assure you that we feed a person if they cannot feed themselves and they are certainly not starved. Food is cut up or mashed or whatever is easiest for the person to take and digest. If they are able to eat and reluctant to eat then they are fed - we can sit with them and talk to them, encourage them, feed them and let them help us do it. The more comotose get fed but I have never worked in any care home where any person residing there has been neglected or starved.

[prattler]

A home or hospital is only as good as the staff employed there and whether or not they have had proper training in elderly care.It's a fact that elderly people with dementia forget to eat, or are so ill, they have no appetite.i work in a nursing home to fund my studies and the treatment of the residents is first class.That being said, care staff should get more knowledge on the importance of nutrition for elderly people.just because they dont touch their food, it doesn't mean you should take their plate away.They should be encouraged to eat, and if not, fortified drinks should be used.As far as I'm concerned, and most of the decent care and nursing staff out there, i treat everyone in my care the way i'd want my own parents to be treated if heaven forbid, they were in that situation.Anyone who thinks differently shouldnt be in the 'caring' profession.

[TheGopher]

I personally think that there is a difference between Care Homes and Hospitals in this respect. Care homes care for the elderly and hospitals treat the elderly and then send them home or back into care. In one large hospital recently I personally have seen trays of food placed in front of elderly patients who cannot manage to eat without assistance. The trays have then been collected afterwards with nothing eaten and no nursing or auxillary staff have even noticed. I was visiting an elderly patient for one month in the ward concerned and this was going on constantly. This was a large, teaching hospital with an excellent reputation.

I am not saying this happens in all hospitals but I have heard similar accounts from friends.

[oopsydoopsy]

Yes, Gopher.........it is a common occurrance, unfortunately.
Exacerbated by other constraints on the NHS such as understaffing.....and actually, by people who work in the care environment who place little value on a patient and what they do.
Sad demise all round really.

[naz_nomad]

''i will not contribute to this corporate / sponsored question''

[TheGopher]

The few staff on the ward were always exceedingly busy, but you were lucky if they were the same staff for two days running. I think that the wards designated to the elderly seem to come bottom of the pile when it comes to allocating staff. It certainly opened my eyes to hospital care for the elderly. I come within the age group that could be admitted to one of these wards and it feels me with fear!!!

[alijangra]

Not in the care home I work in! Breakfast, three course lunch, three course supper with access to snacks in between and unlimited tea and coffee. Anyone with decreased appetite gets their intake monitored and referal made to dietician for supplements if required.

[idalovett]

alijangra, this is what I am used to also. We monitor patients intake, we feed them if they are not able to do so themselves. We note on charts. Some patients have a normal meal liquidised, some are peg fed but everyone eats and they eat better than a lot of the staff do. We have been taught that any patient not eating is to be noted and if it continues then a doctor is called. This has been the routine in all the care homes and nursing homes I have worked in so I am shocked at Ivan Lewis claim and would like to know what and where he has based his facts on.

[littlemiss74]

Im a care assistant and have not seen or would see someone starve and I dont think people working in health care would....!! I hope not anyway.