Lousy food services in hospitals and nursing homes.
Enforced starvation of the elderly in hospitals and nursing homes is a huge problem.
Most hospitals and nursing homes relegate nutritional services to the hotel or “basement” services and minimise resourcing for Dietitians.
We spend millions of dollars on unnecessary medical investigations, and on toxic medications, but we spend absolutely the minimum on food services and nutrition.
This is a paradox, as for every dollar that is spent on improving nutrition and food delivery services, $10 is saved for Governments in health costs in the acute hospital setting.
Many hospitals try to save money by spending at little as possible on food. This just doesn’t make sense! This is anti-patient, anti-science and just plain stupid!
Good food is essential for healing and is a super medicine for frail older patients. Who wouldn’t want to save Grandma or Grandad by providing high quality nutritious food? Food heals and food is health. You are what you eat!
It is quite amazing that such crazy decisions made by unqualified people running hospitals to starve patients by spending as little as possible on food and nutrition services still go on despite the scientific evidence that better nutrition improves health outcomes, and that malnutrition results in longer length of hospital stay, more complications, and much higher health care costs.
Many older patients have dyspraxia or poor co-ordination with swallowing, with silent aspiration (food and fluid going down the wrong way) and are very slow eaters which is common but under-recognised. They need to have their swallowing assessed by a speech pathologist and may need altered texture food and fluids to assist in safe swallowing.
Food services in Residential Aged Care and acute hospital settings need to target these older people at risk of malnutrition and provide appropriate food consistencies, enough time to consume the meals, correct positioning for meals, preferably out of bed, sitting upright to reduce the risk of choking or silent aspiration and feeding assistance as required.
Food packaging is so difficult to open, you almost need a jack-hammer to open the butter, jam, biscuits, and juice packets.
More than half the frail elderly patients in hospital need assistance with meals and opening food packets, and most in aged care hostels and nursing homes need assistance with meals.
More than half of the older patients in hospital are very slow eaters and can take over 1 hour to eat a meal. Unfortunately, quite commonly food delivery services put a time limit on how long they will leave the meal trays out with patients and then efficiently and abruptly remove the trays from the frail and disabled elderly patients before they have had time to consume all of their meal.
Lack of nutritional assessment and monitoring enforces starvation within the hospital, and in the Residential Aged Care setting.
Undereating must NOT be ignored as it usually is in hospitals!
All older people should undergo some form of nutritional assessment, whether they are in the hospital Emergency Department, acute hospital, Doctor’s Surgery or in Residential Aged Care.
For more information read Dr Peter Lipski’s book “Your Elderly Parents Failing Health. Is It Ageing Or A Treatable Condition”.