Pregnant women funded for food - but not the elderly
By Tony Rhodes, National Carers Forum - 22/10/2007
Recently the Government made public a proposal to award an allowance of £200 to pregnant women to allow them to eat healthy foods to benefit their unborn child. We, as a carer forum, feel that funds should also be extended to the elderly population to enable them to eat a more balanced and nutritional diet.
According to statistics provided by the International Council of Nurses, an estimated 500,000 elderly in the UK are malnourished, or at severe risk of malnutrition. And a recent study by the European Nutrition for Health Alliance also states that this in turn costs the UK an estimated £7.4b per year in healthcare. Worryingly, in a survey, 40% of GP’s did not feel that malnutrition was a problem - so it is often under-recognised and under-treated, and nutritional therapy has no place within current health and social care budgets.
Sir. Donald Acheson, a former Chief Medical officer, has previously stated that hunger is now stalking the streets of Britain. The poorest of society now find it impossible to obtain cheap varied food, which in turn highlights how nutrition plays a fundamental role in the important diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, stroke, heart disease and anaemia.
Help The Aged have reported that the amount spent by pensioners on food and drink per week has fallen to £21.50 per week. They also recommend the following for a healthy diet which contains good amounts of Omega 3, vitamin D, calcium and zinc - found in fruit and vegetables, wholewheat bread and other cereals, fish and meat, milk and dairy foods. A balanced diet that in addition includes food rich in Lutein such as sweetcorn, spinach, courgettes, red grapes, kiwis, green peppers and cucumber protect against cataracts and macular degeneration.
And Age Concern are currently looking at nutrition in hospitals, where many elderly patients are malnourished due to poor choice of food and the inability/lack of staff to ensure that they can actually eat the meals that are prepared. Sadly all this hard work will be in vain if, when the patient returns home, they have to resort to ‘making do’ with whatever they can afford, usually not the balanced diet they need at their time of life.
The National Carers Forum has therefore set up an e-petition on the No. 10 website to actively campaign for pensioners to be awarded extra monies to make sure our more vulnerable members of society are given a helping hand to eat better, fresh food to enhance their quality of life.
Currently we have over 200 signatures, including a member of the Council of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health. The link to this campaign is linked below.
We would therefore ask you to show your support for this cause by adding your name to our petition.
Tony Rhodes, National Carers Forum. For more information go to the second link below or call: 07906 165632.