Concern over malnutrition rates in North Yorkshire care homes
A Future Health report has been looking into the issue
A new report is raising concerns over the number of people living in North Yorkshire care homes who are malnourished.
Research from the Future Health Research Centre flagged our areas as having one of the highest rates in that category.
Future Health have estimated half a million people are admitted to NHS hospitals in England with malnutrition each year - that's fifty people every hour.
They're calling on Local Authorities to improve screening to prevent patients becoming malnourished.
They say that will help reduce the £22.6 billion cost to NHS hospitals spent on battling diseases linked with malnutrition.
The number of recorded malnutrition related NHS hospital admissions has nearly trebled since 2009-10 from 3,500 to just over 10,000.
It also predicts in coming years, disease related malnutrition is projected to cost an extra £4 billion by 2035 if no action is taken.
Richard Sloggett, Future Health Programme Director and former Special Adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care, led the report and is calling policy makers attending the Government’s forthcoming Major Conditions Strategy to ensure better screening of people admitted to hospitals and care homes for malnutrition.
"If you take a person going into hospital and they are malnourished, they will stay in longer," he said, "so if you could get them better support when they enter hospital through dietary support they will be able to get out of hospital more quickly and those costs would be reduced.
"It's a really classic prevention play - if we could intervene earlier we would save ourselves more expensive costs."
Malnutrition is linked with conditions such as cancer, dementia and others.
By intervening early with people who have these diseases and offering nutritional advice, Richard believes the numbers of people admitted to hospital will reduce.
"Asking sometimes quite simple questions about when people's last meal was - what their appetite level is - can also set off flags and risk management processes that GPs and others working in primary care, dietitians, can say actually we think this person might need additional support," he said.