Food health check on the menu for visitors

THE Royal Oldham Hospital’s catering department has opened its doors to Age Concern in a bid to end the “scandal” of malnourishment in older patients.

The charity published a damning report in August which said six out of 10 older people across the North-West were at risk of becoming malnourished or their situation getting worse while in hospital.

Nurses were reported as often being too busy to aid those who needed help eating, and the charity said it was a scandal which needed to be tackled.

It launched a campaign — “Hungry to be Heard” — in a bid to improve basic care standards and save lives.

And Pam Stansfield, head of catering for Pennine Acute Trust, which runs the Royal Oldham Hospital, grasped the bull by the horns and invited Age Concern into the kitchens and on to the wards.

She has also set up regular meetings with Age Concern and Oldham’s Forum for Age, invited two people to sit on her menu group and changed the ward menu on their recommendations.

Pam explained: “We were very proud of our menu, we had so many choices, but they pointed out that when people are ill they can’t be bothered to read it, so we have reduced it slightly.”

Another issue raised was that people have to order meals the previous day, which means if they are discharged, the next patient to occupy the bed gets a meal ordered by someone else which they may not like.

Pam said patients in that situation should tell ward staff, who can arrange for a different meal to be brought — although she admitted they did not always have the time — while people who miss a meal through treatment or tests can ask for a snack box.

She added: “It is a problem we are working on. In Oldham we have housekeepers on wards who can take meal orders in the morning, but they are not in our hospitals in Bury and North Manchester.”

Nicola Shore, who works for both Age Concern and Oldham’s adult and community services and who took part in the hospital visit, explained: “We knew of the problems raised in the ‘Hungry to be Heard’ campaign, and we decided we wanted to find out more about what was happening in Oldham because situations often vary from place to place.

“We visited the kitchens then followed the trolleys on to three wards, including the stroke ward, to see how the system works.

“There seemed to have been quite a lot of thought gone into it — people who were struggling to eat were given pureed food set out as a normal meal, yoghurt was served in a bowl for those who could not eat out of a pot, and there were special cups for people who found it hard to lift.

“They were also very keen to put right any problems we found.”

Christine Wilson, from Forum for Age, added: “This is an excellent opportunity. We have had several meetings now and the hospital has taken on board our suggestions and changed things.

“We found patients didn’t know food was available 24 hours a day, and the more people are told that they will ask if they are hungry without feeling awkward.”

The pair, along with volunteers from both organisations, ended the visit with a lunch served on the wards.

Marie Hanson said: “Everything was spotlessly clean in the kitchens,” and Liz Lloyd said: “I have a bee in my bonnet about temperature control. It was good, and I was impressed by the use of modern equipment.”

* Age Concern is calling on patients — or their relatives — who have been in hospital for six weeks or more and who have lost weight which is unrelated to their medical condition to record their experiences to support the campaign by logging on to www.ageconcern.org.uk/hungrytobeheard