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

• Access to high quality, affordable food
• Impact of cognitive impairment on nutrition in older
 people
• Improving the recognition of malnutrition by health and social care staff in primary care, independent and social  care sector


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

• Improving IT skills in older people residing in rural areas to enable them to shop online and widen food choices (more access to fresh fruit and veg)
• Food co-operatives to provide wider access to high  quality food at affordable prices
• Luncheon clubs and cafés to exploit the social dimension of eating

3.   What are your future plans to address issues raised by the Summit?
     
Currently involved in two research projects:

•To explore how residents’ nutritional needs are being addressed in different types of social care settings (communal versus small units)

•Migration, Nutrition and Ageing Across the Lifecourse in Bangladeshi Families: A Transnational Perspective (Ml NA)

•Seeks to explore and enhance our understanding of how eating patterns, food practices and migration affects Bangladeshi women’s nutritional status and experiences of ageing.


     Professor Joy Merrell
     School of Health Science
     Swansea University