Poor nutrition and hydration leads to poor health, increased and prolonged hospital admissions, and increased costs to the NHS.  The personal consequences for patients can include increased risk of infection, delayed wound healing, decreased muscle strength, depression and, sadly, in some cases, premature death.

The initiative from NPSA and Patient Safety First is both timely and welcome, given that the latest figures published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reveal that, in 2010, dehydration caused the death of 155 patients while a further 48 patients died from malnutrition.

Behind these figures is often an elderly patient with a long term condition – someone’s grandmother or grandfather who should and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.  Care in the NHS should not end with clinical treatment and for many patients what matters the most is the simple things.  As the Alzheimer’s Society observed in today’s Times: “Hospitals can be frightening places for people with dementia. Too often their basic needs are not met.”

Worryingly, the problem is not isolated to a few hospitals across the country.  Last year the Care Quality Commission (CQC) conducted its first ever inspection programme looking at the nutritional care offered in 100 hospitals in England.  The regulator found that many hospitals are still failing to get the basics right resulting in patients struggling to, or being unable to, eat and drink. 

But how would you know, as a patient or carer, where to look for information to find out whether your local hospital provides good nutritional care?  The CQC’s individual inspection reports are available to the general public, but would many patients or carers be aware of this?  And I’d question if it is reasonable to expect people to start trawling through the internet to check whether their local hospital meets what should be basic standards of compassionate care when a member of their family is admitted to the hospital.