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Patrick South‚ Head of Public Affairs for Age Concern‚ said:

“A missed meal in hospital is just as much of a risk to patient safety than missing medication for a patient’s recovery.  These figures show that NHS staff are concerned that people are not receiving good nutritional care in hospital.

“Not only do a significant number of older people arrive in hospital already malnourished‚ but six out of ten are at risk of becoming malnourished‚ or their situation getting worse‚ while they are there. 

“If we are to tackle the scourge of malnutrition among older people‚ all NHS Trusts must commit to making nutrition a top priority.  Every hospital needs to make sure staff in every ward are doing all they can‚ so that older people don’t go hungry.”

-Ends-


Notes to Editors

• Age Concern’s Hungry to be Heard campaign exposed the national scandal of malnourished older patients in hospitals and brought it to the attention of politicians and policy makers.
•  To request a copy of Age Concern’s Hungry to be Heard campaign report‚ please contact Anne-Marie Devaney on 020 8765 7511 or email anne-marie.devaney@ace.org.uk
• Age Concern is the largest organisation in the UK working for older people.  Everyday we are in touch with thousands of older people‚ enabling them to make more of life. We work in the community to support older people through a range of initiatives. These include information and advice‚ befriending‚ day centres‚ lunch clubs‚ transport services‚ home visits‚ and advocacy services along with digital inclusion. More than 85‚000 older people received computer training at an Age Concern in 2006.  More information can be found on our website.

For general enquiries please contact us.

Journalists contact:

Media contact:
Anne-Marie Devaney
Telephone:
020 8765 7511
Out of office hours:
07071 243 243
Email:
Media@ace.org.uk