22/06/07
The government's recent focus on improving nutrition for older people and dignity for those in care raised expectations that it would fill a gap in health policy by stipulating access to fresh drinking water for both groups.
However, despite assurances that water should be implicit in care arrangements and that ministers would consider the case for ensuring that older people had access, the revision to nutritional standards that would enable this may now be as far off as 2009.
Why must care home residents wait this long? With healthcare professionals reporting that laxatives now form the biggest single use of pharmaceuticals in care, and the NHS hydration initiative Thirst 4 Life advising that one third of older people admitted to A&E suffer from dehydration, the case for change is overwhelming.
The answer is that revised standards depend on the results of "an internal debate on how this stage interacts with the work on the wider reform of health and social care regulation".
Contact: Nick Ellins
