Adult Care Blog: Nutrition Archives

Council demands over £100,000 back from providers

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on July 7, 2011 10:32 AM | No Comments

Calderdale council is demanding £118,000 back from homecare providers after an audit found it has been overcharged.

The audit said it had paid nearly 17.5% over what it really should. Some clients never even got meals the council was applying for, the Calderdale Courier reports.

The report said there was little contract monitoring and the whole system was open to abuse.

Vulnerable people and care standards in hospital

By Jeremy Dunning, senior adult beat journalist on May 26, 2011 9:53 AM | No Comments

Two stories today illustrate the worrying levels of care for vulnerable people in hospitals. The Care Quality Commission criticised as "unacceptable" failures by hospitals to meet older people's nutritional and dignity needs.

The CQC regulates in England only.

However the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland has reported concerns surrounding inappropriate care and treatment involving Mrs V, a woman diagnosed with dementia, who died in a general hospital in December 2008, following a short course of treatment. Although it adds that visits to other general hospitals suggest the case was not typical, the case did underline why standards for the care of people with dementia were required.

Links: meals for elderly, Alzheimer's diagnosis, dementia tagging

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on October 11, 2010 9:46 AM | No Comments

Here are a few choice links for the day:

Apparently highly educated people with Alzheimer's could be missing out on a diagnosis.

Local authorities are closing meals-on-wheels services because they are not obliged to provide them. However, you too can play a role in getting better nutrition for older people.

As tele-care becomes more prominent we should hopefully see less need for big search parties to fin dementia sufferers like this one in Brighton. Though using technology such as GPS tagging isn't without its problems.

Department of Health takes the reigns on nutrition

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on September 30, 2010 4:17 PM | No Comments

All nutrition policy will be set by the Department of Health, from tomorrow.

Policy on portion size, reducing salt and reducing sugar in foods will move from the Food Standards Agency into the Department of Health.

If you want to know hoe food and nutrition impacts upon social care, check out Community Care's food issue.

The Department said this was a step towards forming a Public Health Service.

image by wendalicious on Flickr

Your guide to good nutritional care for older people

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on September 17, 2010 9:40 AM | No Comments

At Community Care nutrition is something we really care about, that's why we ran a whole issue on it a few weeks ago.

Nutrition is often one of the basics that gets forgotten about if it's not monitored properly. Luckily SCIE TV have put together a handy video guide to this as well covering the industry favoured MUST tool.

Nutritional care for older people from Social Care TV on Vimeo.

Care home manager jailed, Rachel Baker investigated & burgers neutralised

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on August 13, 2010 9:34 AM | No Comments

A care home manager who stole £115,00 from residents has been jailed for two years. She pleaded guilty to 51 separate counts of theft.

In separate care home new, Somerset County Council is launching a serious case review in an attempt to unravel how the crimes of Rachel Baker, who was convicted of manslaughter at the care home she ran, were not picked up sooner.

On a lighter note - obesity. Some scientists have suggested that fast food outlets should offer statins with their burgers to cancel out their unhealthy affect. Well that seems like really tackling that social issue head-on guys, well done.

Image by arenamontanus on Flickr

Resource round-up: Commissioning good nutrition

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on May 24, 2010 3:36 PM | No Comments

Nutrition is a basic necessity for good health and therefore essential to getting people better and reducing their needs for health and social care.

But building that into a commissioning process can be tough.

Luckily the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition have today produced some pretty comprehensive guidance on how to identify risks, measure results and develop better staff and services to make sure the challenge is met.

Continue reading Resource round-up: Commissioning good nutrition.

Heston Blumenthal steps up to tackle hospital nutrition

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on May 5, 2010 10:50 AM | No Comments

Three Michelin star chef Heston Blumenthal could be coming to the rescue of hospital discharge teams and care home staff by working to improve nutrition in hospitals and nursing homes.

Hospitals have been found to offer poor nutrition to elderly patients, especially those with dementia, meaning they often leave hospital more frail than when they went in, putting extra strain on community services.

Blumenthal recently gave researchers from the University of Reading time in his kitchen at his restaurant, the Fat Duck, to learn about cooking techniques.

Continue reading Heston Blumenthal steps up to tackle hospital nutrition.

Today's must reads: Care home sex and drug abuse

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on March 19, 2010 9:33 AM | No Comments

You could be forgiven for thinking that care homes are a rather scary place to live if you read the papers today.

For starters Rachel Baker, a care home manager accused of murdering elderly residents, reveals that she abused patients drugs, with dire consequences.

Continue reading Today's must reads: Care home sex and drug abuse.

Today's must reads: Wii combats falls?; unclaimed benefits; predicting suicide

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on March 15, 2010 9:22 AM | No Comments

Apparently the Nintendo Wii could be a way of stopping elderly falls. Expect to see them on prescriptions soon.

Su Sayer of United Response speaks out about the death of David Askew, saying it's far from unusual to suffer abuse as a person with a learning disability.

University of Cambridge researchers think they may be able to better predict the risks of suicide in adults.

Cancer patients in Scotland are failing to claim benefits they are entitled to.

Corus steelworks in Wales, a business which was hard hit by the recession, is bringing mental health awareness to their workplace.

Recently in Nutrition Category

Council demands over £100,000 back from providers

Vulnerable people and care standards in hospital

Links: meals for elderly, Alzheimer's diagnosis, dementia tagging

Department of Health takes the reigns on nutrition

Your guide to good nutritional care for older people

Care home manager jailed, Rachel Baker investigated & burgers neutralised

Resource round-up: Commissioning good nutrition

Heston Blumenthal steps up to tackle hospital nutrition

Today's must reads: Care home sex and drug abuse

Today's must reads: Wii combats falls?; unclaimed benefits; predicting suicide

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