Text Box: Correspondence

28th March 2008

 

CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCEMENT

 

Recently the Government made public a proposal to award an allowance of £200 to pregnant women to allow them to eat healthy foods to benefit their unborn child.

 

We, as a carer forum, feel that funds should also be extended to the elderly population to enable them to eat a more balanced and nutritional diet.  According to statistics provided by the International Council of Nurses (www.icn.ch), an estimated 500,000 elderly in the UK are malnourished, or at severe risk of malnutrition.

 

A recent study by the European Nutrition for Health Alliance (www.european-nutrition.org) also states that this in turn costs the UK an estimated £7.4b per year in healthcare – worryingly, in a survey, 40% of GP’s did not feel that malnutrition was a problem therefore it is often under-recognised and under-treated and nutritional therapy has no place within current health and social care budgets.

 

Sir. Donald Acheson, a former Chief Medical officer, has previously stated that hunger is now stalking the street of Britain, the poorest of society now find it impossible to obtain cheap varied food which in turn highlights how nutrition plays a fundamental role in the important diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, stroke, heart disease and anaemia.

 

(Sources:  The poor of Britain are going hungry:  J. Laurance Independent 15th Oct, 1998, The Torment of Going to Bed Hungry:  J. Davison: Independent 17th Oct., 1998)

 

Help The Aged (www.helptheaged.org.uk) report that the amount spent by pensioners on food and drink per week has fallen to £21.50 per week.  They also recommend the following for a healthy diet which contains good amounts of Omega 3, Vitamin D, Calcium & Zinc:- fruit and vegetables, wholewheat bread and other cereals, fish and meat, milk and dairy foods. A balanced diet that in addition includes food rich in Lutein such as sweetcorn, spinach, courgettes, red grapes, kiwis, green peppers and cucumber protect against cataracts and macular degeneration.

 

Text Box: Age Concern (www.ageconcern.org.uk/) are currently looking at nutrition in hospitals, many elderly patients are malnourished due to poor choice of food and more seriously the inability/lack of staff to ensure that they actually eat the meals that are prepared. Sadly all this hard work will be in vain if, when the patient returns home, they have to resort to ‘making do’ with whatever they can afford, usually not the balanced diet they need at their time of life. 

 

 

 

Text Box: The National Carers Forum has therefore set up an e-petition on the No. 10 website to actively campaign for pensioners to be awarded extra monies to make sure our more vulnerable members of society are given a helping hand to eat better, fresh food to enhance their quality of life.

 

The link to this campaign is : http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/freshfruitveg/

 

All areas of the media (press, TV, radio) have been contacted with the above information, currently we have 304 signatures, including a member of the Council of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, Counsel & Care (http://www.counselandcare.org.uk/) have also given us their backing along with Jenny Pitman, OBE.  The Mature Times (http://www.maturetimes.co.uk/node/3973) have also included this appeal in their campaign section, it is also featured in the November issue of Caring, Carers UK magazine (http://www.carersuk.org/Home). We were also quoted in the Daily Express health section (11th December, 2007).

 

We would therefore ask you to show your support for this cause by adding your name to our petition.

 

Thankyou

 

 

 

Tony Rhodes, National Carers Forum

http://www.nationalcarersforum.co.uk/