The best medicine for older people!

04/07/2008

Care home residents in Suffolk who have been encouraged to increase their intake of the simplest medicine of all, water, have reported dramatic improvements in their health and well-being.

 

One lady in her eighties, Jean Lavender, who found walking difficult is now not only to "get outside" most days, but also says she feels "20 years younger."

The transformation started when staff at The Martins care home in Bury St Edmunds started a "water club" for their residents last summer. They encouraged them to drink eight to ten glasses of water a day, had water coolers installed, and gave each resident a jug of water for their room. The success of the water club has been welcomed by Action on Elder Abuse (AEA) and The Arthritic Association (AA).

Baroness Greengross, founder of AEA, said that failure to provide enough water to drink could be seen as 'neglect', and has urged ministers to look at the new scheme in Suffolk and called for a set of minimum standards on hydration across the UK. She also said that the impact of dehydration, which was often overlooked, makes frail people more vulnerable to infections, dizziness, confusion, and to falls.

The Suffolk scheme has drawn a lot of interest from other care providers, and there is some guidance on this issue in place across the UK -  though in England and Wales the governments say they are looking to produce stronger standards.