Mark Scott 1 hr · PATIENTS STARVING TO DEATH IN SCOTS HOSPITALS Three die EVERY month from malnutrition Scottish Daily Mail 6 Nov 2014 THREE patients a month are starving to death in Scottish hospitals. More than 170 patients have died from malnutrition in the past five years, with a further 12,072 treated for the condition. Those most at risk are the elderly, although official figures show that as many as eight children have died. By Rachel Watson The shocking death toll emerged after the Scottish Daily Mail revealed that patients are being served meals costing as little as 89p. in addition, food served on wards is being shipped in from hundreds of miles away, while hospitals across Scotland cut their catering budgets by almost £1million in 2013. According to worrying new NHS figures, 40 hospital patients died from starvation last year. Despite this the Scottish Government has insisted that health boards are meeting the required food standards. official NHS figures show that malnutrition was the main cause of death in 175 cases since 2009, and a secondary cause in a further 43 deaths. But the overall figure is likely to be higher because two of the country’s largest health boards, NHS Lothian and NHS Grampian, were unable to provide data on malnutrition deaths. Last night, experts highlighted problems with unappealing and medically inappropriate food, combined with overworked staff who may have insufficient time to feed elderly patients. As well as making patients weak, malnutrition can increase the symptoms of the illnesses from which people are already suffering. Last December, Isabella McAllister, 82, died after spending ten days in the Victoria Hospital, Kirk- caldy, Fife, during which she lost two stone. Mrs McAllister weighed only four stone when she was released from the hospital. Her daughter, Jean Murray, 59, said that doctors claimed her mother could not eat as she was unable to digest food, but Mrs Murray defied them and fed the pensioner baby food to ease her suffering. Politicians and health campaigners have calling for ‘urgent’ action on the matter of hospital nutrition. Scottish Lib Dem health spokesman Jim Hume said: ‘It is alarming that anyone in Scotland is dying of malnutrition in this day and age. ‘Ministers must investigate this issue as a matter of urgency.’ Mr Hume said that hospitals must strive to provide ‘gold standard’ food as patients have little choice in what is being served to them. Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said not every malnutrition death was the fault of hospitals, but added: ‘Wards should be bastions of wholesome, healthy food but, as it stands, it looks like the opposite is true. ‘When families see their loved ones admitted, they don’t expect malnutrition to be one of the problems they have to face up to amid all the other risks that exist.’ Many of those dying from malnutrition are frail, elderly patients. However, NHS Fife confirmed that four children had died after becoming malnourished. NHS Highland admitted that malnutrition had been a factor in the deaths of ‘under five’ children, but it could not provide an exact number. Dr Jean Turner, of the Scotland Patients Association, said: ‘ It is extremely important to get people food that is suitable and attractive for them to eat while they are in hospital. For older people, they will prefer more traditional food like home-made soup and cottage pie, not pasta or pizza. ‘It shouldn’t be hard for hospitals to provide this.’ Dr Jennie Jackson, a lecturer in human nutrition and dietetics at Glasgow Caledonian University, said: ‘The figures are high. In many cases, once people are admitted they develop malnutrition. ‘It is not always the case that it is not good hospital food, it is that they cannot manage to eat what they have been given or that they feel too unwell. ‘One of my colleagues was in hospital and she had a broken arm, but they put a tray in front of her with an orange and a yoghurt which she obviously could not eat herself. ‘She was young enough so she could just ask for help but that is not always the case.’ NHS Fife had the highest number of malnutrition-related deaths, with 96 since 2009. The health board’s interim chief executive, Dr Brian Montgomery, said: ‘All admissions to Fife hospitals are assessed within 24 hours to ascertain whether t hey have malnutrition or are at risk of malnutrition. ‘Of those who are treated in our hospitals for malnutrition, more than 95 per cent have developed the condition prior to being admitted. ‘It is uncommon for malnutrition to be the primary cause of death. It is, however, frequently associated with conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and certain types of cancer.’ Last night, the Scottish Government insisted that everything possible was being done to make sure patients get the nutrition they need. A spokesman said: ‘ The reality is that some patients are already malnourished when they are admitted to hospital – and in such cases everything possible will be done to try to make sure that they get the nutrition they need, as part of their care. ‘Our clear policy is to drive up the standard of nutritional care in hospitals and communities. ‘ Scotland is the first country in the UK to make screening for malnutrition a mandatory requirement. Since 2008, more than £1.75million has been committed by t he Scottish Government to support and improve nutritional care, including malnutrition screening of all patients when they are admitted to hospital, and the introduction of protected mealtimes to make sure patients who need help with eating are properly cared for.’ HOW horrific and shameful that people are dying f rom malnutrition at an average rate of three per month in Scottish hospitals. Most at risk are the elderly, although – heartbreakingly – as many as eight children have also died. The r easons are complex, yes. Malnourishment may have been the reason for patients being admitted in the first place and perhaps it was simply too late to save them. But just because this is a difficult problem does not mean we can ignore the issue. Sick and recuperating people need nutritious and appetising food. The Mail’s Better Food For Patients campaign has highlighted the dismal state of meals dished up in too many hospitals. We have carried pictures of unidentifiable pap, sauces that look as though they glow in the dark and meat and veg rendered so tough or so mushy as to be inedible. The Scottish Government’s stock response has been to say that hospital meals meet basic nutritional standards. Lives are at risk here – that parroted answer is simply not good enough. We urgently need an inspection regime that considers what is on the plates of some of our most vulnerable citizens as they spend time on hospital wards. And we also need a re-evaluation of the place of food in hospitals – in many cases, it is as pivotal as medicine. Writing elsewhere in t he paper, consultant geriatrician Lewis Morrison makes crucial points. One is that old people often take a very long time to eat very small portions of food. Hard-presssed nurses often lack the time to ensure that patients in this condition are finishing meals and getting the nutrition they require if their health is not to deteriorate to a dangerous level. Holyrood is a fractious place where too often politicians put narrow party concerns and personal vanity ahead of action for the greater good. Surely, with people starving to death in hospitals i n 21st- century Scotland, politicians can find it within themselves to tackle this issue on a cross-party basis as a matter of urgency?
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 15:47:26 +0000
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