Adequate food and hydration are fundamental necessities that appear to be being missed within our health and social care system with thousands of elderly people at risk of malnutrition and dehydrationin care homes across the country according to research carried out by the Independent.The most recent CQC data shockingly reveals that hundreds of care-homes across the country are not meeting their basic food and nutritional legal requirementsleaving residents at risk of malnourishment and dehydration.
Lesley Carter, of Age UK, told The Independent: “It’s really very sad, how many people are not getting proper food and they’re choking. It’s quite frightening when we start to unpick the issues. Food and hydration, that’s just fundamental. In residential care, there are often a lot of people with dementia and rarely are there skilled staff who can correctly weigh and monitor people.”
The recent research found that 55 of the 449 'Inadequate' elderly care homes in 2017 failed in nutrition and hydration with a Malnutrition Taskforce finding that over a third of people were admitted to care homes because they were malnourished.Despite most care-homes providing adequate hydration and nutrition to residentsthese fundamental failures still pose a serious risk that could be potentially fatal.Digital technologies could be a part of the solution to this problem - providing staff with the means to monitor their resident's nutrition so that nothing falls through the cracks.With Kafoodle Meal Planning, staffcan see daily, weekly and monthly meal plans and how these match up to their nutritional goals. Should a resident need a special diet such as soft food or lower potassium these can be easily catered for thanks to Kafoodle Kares intuitive recipe tags. With budgets continuing to tighten it is vital that we turn to technologies that can help to reduce instances of human error, potentially saving lives.
To find out more about Kafoodle Meal Planning and how it can work within your care-home contact us today on
020 3371 0450 or fill out the short form below.
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