Nearly a third of nurses are not confident that it would be noticed if a relative was malnourished when entering hospital, according to findings released as part of Age UK’s “Still Hungry to be Heard” campaign.
The results prompt fresh fears that older people are still being left to go hungry in hospital. Age UK reported that less than half of hospitals screen older patients for malnutrition on admission to hospital and only a third of hospitals screen patients during their stay. In addition, just 5% screen elderly patients on discharge. As a consequence of poor monitoring, 180,000 patients are still leaving hospital malnourished each year and 239 die of malnutrition during their stay. The research for Age UK, carried out by ICM, shows that less than half of nurses think their hospital screens older in-patients often enough, while some 71% of nurses claim there are barriers to screening – with lack of time, other priorities and training cited as the most common constraints. As well as the impact on patient health, wellbeing and mortality, Age UK pointed out that malnutrition costs the NHS around £7.3 billion per year. This is due to longer or avoidable hospital stays, the need for more medication and higher risk of infection. Michelle Mitchell, charity director at Age UK, said: “The Government must introduce compulsory monitoring so that this issue can be effectively tackled. Age UK is also calling for the Care Quality Commission to undertake a comprehensive review of hospital mealtimes. This will ensure that hospitals not taking steps to effectively stop malnutrition are exposed.” A copy of the report and further information on the “Still Hungry to be Heard” campaign can be obtained at: www.ageuk.org.uk/htbh
