More work to be done on hydration in hospitals and care homes

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Baroness Greengross argues that there needs to be improvements to hydration policies for residents and patients.

I have tabled my parliamentary question on Hydration because currently there is a lack of focus on hydration as a key public health issue in its own right. Dehydration can have a severe impact on health and wellbeing, leading to functional and long-term health problems, particularly in older people. It is also one of the most common indicators of moving someone from a nursing home to hospital.

A quarter of all nursing home patients who are admitted to hospital are dehydrated and this can have important adverse consequences. In a domestic setting dehydration has been identified as a critical risk factor for falls in older people, because it can lead to deterioration in mental state and an increase in the likelihood of dizziness and fainting.

I am not alone here, as I chair a Hydration Forum of experts in the field who are striving to improve our understanding of the important role of hydration in the health and wellbeing of older people. A few simple messages have emerged from the forum that I will be asking government to endorse and support. Among these are:

• Maintaining good hydration in older people can help to reduce the risk of falls, help prevent a range of conditions and reduce health costs.
• There is a need to raise awareness of the risks of dehydration. Training and information should be available to health professionals, carers and families.

Improvements are occurring, but not quickly enough. For example, recently the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) Guide on Dignity in Care highlighted the importance of good hydration for maintaining good health and quality of life among older people.

Indirect hydration measurement methods are quick and easy to incorporate into daily activities, present minimal burden to staff or residents, and require little training. The latter is important because a vital component in developing hydration policy and practice is in training staff about the importance of signs of possible dehydration, as well as ensuring older people are aware of the risks of dehydration.

By developing appropriate individual or group policies on hydration, hospitals and care homes could go a long way to ensuring adequate hydration of their patients and residents, thereby helping to facilitate a really important change that would both improve the wellbeing of older people and save taxpayers’ money!

Sally Greengrossis former director-general of Age Concern England (1987-2000) and vice-president (Europe) for the International Federation on Ageing (1987-2001). She was raised to the peerage in 2000 and sits as a crossbencher.