New Mayor challenged to solve rising malnutrition in older people
Cuts to social care funding has been linked to rising rates of malnutrition among older people. Meals on wheels, which provides home delivery of nutritious meals to vulnerable people, has been cut by a third of UK council. However, these cuts deliver only short-term savings as the cost of admission to care home or hospitals far outwiegh investment to maintain the service.
'Local authorities and London's next Mayor should act to reduce the number of older people living in food poverty or suffering from malnutrition in London,' says Hannah Laurison, coordinator of the London Food Poverty Campaign.
There has been a disturbing rise in malnutrition among older people:
- Nationally, more than 1.3 million people over 65 suffer from malnutrition. The economic costs of malnutrition are considerable - approximately 10 per cent of public expenditure on healthcare is attributable to malnutrition.
- Social care funding has not kept pace with the increase in the number of older people. Spending per head on people over age 85 is at the same level it was in 2002 while the number of people aged 85 and over has increased by 34 per cent.
Meals on wheels provision has been cut by a third of UK councils. In London, only 13 boroughs provide home delivery of prepared meals. Savings from keeping older people in their homes rather than being admitted to care homes or hospitals far outweighs the investment required to maintain these services. There are existing models that show community meals can work at little or no additional cost to councils.
The London Food Poverty Campaign has identified the following three areas for action:
- Understand the problem better: More needs to be done to understand the scope of the problem. Nationally, government should commit to annual monitoring of food insecurity. At the borough level, data from housing, health and social care datasets could help identify the level of need.
- Champion the need: This problem requires leadership from the public sector, charities and businesses. Council leaders and London's next Mayor should bring together diverse partners to come up with a 21st century solution.
- Learn from best practice: There are a number of successful meals on wheels services across the UK. Social enterprises, making smart use of existing kitchen facilities and cooperative purchasing agreements can bring costs down whilst delivering services to a broader range of users.
Published Friday 8 April 2016
Food Poverty: Millions of people in the UK struggle to get enough to eat. We’re working to change that through people-powered projects and campaigns that tackle the root causes of food poverty and ensure everyone has dignified access to healthy, affordable food.
