Elderly urged to drink more water

Baroness Greengross wants people in care home to drink more water

Health campaigners have called for government action to help ensure that elderly people in care across the UK get enough water.

Baroness Greengross, founder of the charity Action on Elder Abuse, says failure to provide enough water to drink could be seen as neglect.

The baroness has urged ministers to look at a scheme to encourage drinking at a care home in Suffolk.

She also wants a set of minimum standards on hydration across the UK.

Baroness Greengross said there had been a lot of attention on the effects of malnutrition on elderly people in hospitals and in care.

But she said that the impact of dehydration was often overlooked.

It makes frail people more vulnerable to infections, dizziness, confusion, and to falls, from which many never fully recover.

The baroness cites the scheme at The Martins care home in Bury St Edmunds, where residents are being encouraged to drink eight to 10 glasses of water a day, and the number of falls there has dropped sharply.

The Suffolk scheme has drawn a lot of interest from other care providers.

There is some guidance on this issue in place across the UK, though in England and Wales the governments say they are looking to produce stronger standards.