As you will be aware, a key element of the work of COPA is the involvement of older people. To this end COPA has developed a HUB Network comprising of a mix of people with an interest in older people’s issues.

 

After consulting with the COPA HUB network in order to gather an organisational response to the questions that the Welsh Food Alliance posed, we would like to submit the following response.

 

 

1. What do you consider the highest priority in addressing malnutrition in an ageing population?

 

Education and training to further increase knowledge and  raise awareness and understanding of nutrition in later life for all organisations and individuals involved with providing a service or caring for older people and for older people themselves.

 

Nutrition is important for physical, mental and social well-being. It is particularly important for the older person living at home. Poor nutrition is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, poor wound healing, reduced immunity, increased use of prescription medication, reduced mortality and increased length of hospital stay should admission become necessary. (Coull, Donaldson, Duffy & Pageat, 2008*)

 

The COPA HUB Network members further raised the following key points:

 

• Education – understanding malnutrition.
• The importance of a routine – regular meals and snacks to maintain physical and mental wellbeing (e.g., combats physical symptoms of feeling cold and tired, and psychological symptoms of depression)
• The importance of snacks in maintaining a nutritious diet with adequate calories.
• Shopping - plan menus and only buy food that will be used.
• Impact of ageing on senses – declining in a sense of taste and smell can have an impact on appetite; encourage the use of herbs and spices to add flavour to snacks and meals to support the enjoyment of food and a healthy appetite.
• Leaflets to encourage eating food rich in vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C and iron to maintain wellbeing.
• Activity to support eating well: Encourage regular activity as a way of maintaining appetite and well being – this may include activities inside and outside the home.
• Healthy eating does not need to be expensive – encourage buying seasonal fruit and vegetables to keep costs low.
• The importance of social contact - company at mealtimes can support eating well.
• For older people receiving a support/food service – company at mealtimes can help to ensure food is suitable and appropriate for the older person to eat, that the meal can be accessed - can assist to ‘unpack’ the meal from the delivery package.
• Organisations providing care services to address the time factor – allocation of time for visits to deliver service needs to take into account food preparation time and social contact time, both equally important in terms of supporting an older person to eat well.
• Oral/dental health – consider suitability of food.
• Help on hand to assist and support an older person with actual eating.
• Utilising lunch clubs - providing a meal and social opportunities to eat in company.
• Develop a cook book with meals and recipes for one.
• Supermarkets - Suggest supermarkets duty to ensure providing food that meets older people’s needs. Recognition that ‘buy one get one free’ offers no use for people on their own – more half price deals.
• Suggest supermarkets to make available sample menus and meal ideas to support eating well for older adults.
• Supermarkets to be encouraged to make shopping easier – for example more seats in supermarkets for break during shopping, not placing goods on high shelves to reducing difficulty in reaching, help getting shopping to the car or home, more help with packing shopping.
• Finances - adequate finances to be able to eat a nutritious diet represents a real challenge for some older people. Some HUB members suggested that older people may find themselves in a situation of having to make choices around bills such as for heating or food.
• Social isolation causes loneliness and contributes to ill health/depression and malnutrition – Government and local authorities must implement greater Social Inclusion Strategies and raise awareness of the issues faced by older people – much more work needs to be done to encourage strong communities and intergenerational practice.

 

 

2. What have you recently undertaken or valued to help improve food access or the nutrition of older people?

As an organisation, COPA, in partnership with South Lanarkshire Council and NHS Lanarkshire have developed a Nutrition in Later Life Educational Package for Home Care staff. This package was piloted in 2006 and following further development was recently delivered to 150 home care staff in areas of South Lanarkshire. This is an innovative package which aims to increase knowledge and raise awareness of nutrition in later life. The package explores the physical aspects of ageing and the social and psychological factors that contribute to supporting or challenging eating well in later life. The package is designed with the aim of raising awareness of nutrition in later life for all those involved with the care of an older person including the older person themselves. The team believe that it is important that knowledge and awareness around nutrition in later life is transmitted widely in order to have a real impact on the wellbeing of older people. See COPA website* for full report.

 

With this in mind, COPA also recently worked with groups of school pupils and older people from East Lothian with the aim of developing an Intergenerational Kitchen. The aim of the kitchen is to increase awareness and knowledge of nutrition in later life widely in the community, break down barriers between age groups and gather snack suggestions to further develop a COPA recipe booklet – Food for Thought*.

 

COPA has also recently developed a booklet called Good Ideas* which  designed to support carers and outreach day services providers working with ‘housebound’ older people and their families. The booklet is a useful resource containing many ideas including ideas around food and nutrition.

 

 

3. What  are your future plans to address issues raised by the Summit?

COPA look forward to receiving the outcomes of the summit and taking forward the nutrition in later life agenda to improve the well being of older people. COPA hope the summit will raise awareness of this topic and result in the release of funding streams to further support work in this area. COPA will actively strive to support the development of an Older People’s Charter to address nutritional needs of older people. Many COPA HUB network members are well placed to widely disseminate issues raised by the summit through their involvement with different groups and organisations for example Ageing Well and the Scottish Pensioners Forum.

 

 

*Coull, Y., Donaldson, C., Duffy, M., and Paget, A. (2008) Recipe for Life - Practice development projects: 1. Nutrition in Later Life Education Course for Home Care Staff; 2. Intergenerational Kitchen. COPA report (unpublished). RBS Centre for the Older person’s Agenda, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. 

 

*For all COPA documents and reports see COPA website at http://www.qmu.ac.uk/copa