Why are we still hungry to be heard?

1. Why are we still hungry to be heard? Mary Milne Senior Campaigns Officer, Age UK

3. Hungry to be Heard • Hungry to be Heard was launched by Age Concern England in 2006 • Aimed to end the scandal of older people becoming malnourished in hospitals.

4. Age UK’s 7 steps • Hospital staff must listen to older people, their relatives & carers • All ward staff must become ‘food aware’ • Hospital staff must follow their own professional codes & guidance • Older people must be assessed for signs or risk of malnutrition on admission and at regular intervals during their stay. • Hospitals should introduce ‘protected mealtimes’ • Hospitals should implement a ‘red tray’ system and ensure it works in practice • Hospitals should use trained volunteers where appropriate

5. Still Hungry to be Heard Age UK called on the Care Quality Commission to undertake a special review of hospital mealtimes

6. CQC Spot checks on nutrition

7. Why are hospitals failing? Leadership: ‘Leaders in hospitals must create a culture in which good care can flourish’ Staff attitudes: ‘Task-focused care us not person-centred care… Kindness and compassion costs nothing.’ Resources: ‘Having plenty of staff does not guarantee good care but not having enough is a sure path to poor care.’ Lack of priority given to nutrition

8. Hospitals should publish malnutrition data • Help to make malnutrition a priority • Measure progress and success • Older people and their families need information • Data should already be available • Medical experts need to agree format

9. Malnutrition: publish the numbers • Monday 10 October: we handed over 2000 campaign cards to the Dept of Health. • Thursday 13 October: Andrew Lansley, Secretary of State for Health, said on C4 News: ‘I wouldn’t under-estimate the power of publishing data, of transparency and of an open culture across the NHS.’

10. Hungry to be Heard • Mary Milne, Senior Campaigns Officer, Age UK • mary.milne@ageuk.org.uk, • 020 303 31437