Water UK

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Overview and highlights

The recommended daily intake for water according to the Food Standards Agency is between 6 and 8 glasses of water or other fluids a day. A majority of care homes recognise that there is a recommended daily intake for water, most of whom believe that the RDI is roughly between 5-6+ glasses of water a day. Most residents however, only consume 2 -4 glasses of water/fluid, a fraction of the RDI. Providers find that it is often an ‘uphill’ battle with residents to drink water.

Over 90% of care homes encourage residents by serving water at meals, placing water on trolleys and jugs in their rooms, through verbal encouragement and by example. However, elderly residents are still reluctant to drink water. An overwhelming 90% of care homes note that residents prefer tea, coffee, juices and other drinks to water. Providers would rather have clients consume fluids rather than nothing at all. It appears that there is some confusion between the consumption of water vs. fluids. Tea and coffee are diuretics making urination more frequent and concentrated.

When water is requested tap water is generally served, followed by water from a cooler, and lastly, bottled water. Of note, roughly 1/3 of care homes have contracts with a bottled water provider, and only a fourth of this number responded that when water is requested they provide bottled water. As for the type of water providers think is safe for clients to drink, over 600 providers responded filtered tap, followed by over 500 who answered bottled and unfiltered tap, respectively.

Whether written or verbally spoken, most care homes have neither a policy on water consumption nor do they include water consumption on each client’s care plan. However, care homes do monitor their clients’ water consumption through daily estimates in care notes, rough estimates and through other methods via a fluid chart. Residents are often monitored following the request of a GP, illness or noticeable lack of fluid intake. Of those who are not monitoring their clients’ water consumption, the most frequent response was that ‘it would not normally occur to me to do this, but it might be a good idea.’

Only half of the care homes have received advice or guidance on how tomanage client hydration. They would appear to be looking to improve overall client hydration as over 90% who answered would be interested in receiving such advice if it were free of charge. Providers want advice to help improve patient hydration to reduce health problems associated with the lack of drinking water. Most providers have recognised urinary tract infections, dehydration, constipation, confusion and kidney problems as the principle health problems associated with the lack of drinking water as well as a single mention of the effects from over hydration.

Residents’ physical and mental abilities vary from care home to care home. Providers often noted that their clients have dementia or are immobile. The care homes were split on the accessibility of a cooler/dispenser to residents to those who were actually mobile to use it. Some made mention that they had no mobile clients or this has already been tried or they already have one.

October 2003

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