Malnutrition is the fourth-biggest driver of cost in the NHS with public health expenditure on managing the illness expected to exceed £13 billion a year. With the rising costs of care and the changing demands of an aging population, there is a clear and pressing need for action.
That is why we have made apetito one of the founding partners of the newly created Malnutrition Task Force, which is being set up with the aim of significantly reducing malnutrition among elderly people in the UK.
You might be thinking that malnutrition is an issue that only occurs in places such as sub-Saharan Africa. However, prolific though it may be in those regions, you’d be wrong. There are around one million malnourished older people (over the age of 65) in the UK today. Malnutrition, including dehydration, is a major cause of poor health and, in some cases, premature death. It is also a key driver of unaffordable and unnecessary health and social care costs.
Reducing malnutrition would make a major difference to the health and quality of life of older people, and has the potential to make a significant contribution to the £20 billion cost-saving challenge facing the NHS – dubbed the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) programme by the Department of Health – not to mention cost pressures in social care.
These are the main motivating factors that have prompted apetito, Age UK, the WRVS and Nutricia to set up and fund the Malnutrition Task Force, which is currently being established under the Dignity in Care Partnership.
The new task force will be chaired by Diane Jeffery CBE. Task force members will comprise a range of independent experts in the fields of nutrition, care and delivering change across community, institutional health and social care settings. The Department of Health will also act as an observer on the task force.
We are currently in the process of appointing a programme director who will be responsible for driving the group and accountable to the chair and task force members.
So where does elderly malnutrition occur and why does it drive such incredible health and social care costs?
Research by the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) shows that 93% of malnutrition starts in the community The impact of malnourishment upon older people is significant and can lead to muscle wastage; increased risk of infection; poor or delayed wound healing; falls due to dizziness; apathy; depression; reduced quality of life – and even early death. Malnutrition can often lead to early and preventable entry into hospital or care. 30% of older people in hospital and 42% of those in residential care homes are at risk of malnutrition.
According to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), malnutrition is the fourth-biggest cost driver in the NHS and BAPEN estimates that expenditure on the illness has the potential to exceed £13 billion a year. To put this into context, this is almost double the cost of obesity, yet has nowhere near the same levels of public awareness.
We don’t want the Malnutrition Task Force to just produce another ‘worthy’ report that attracts dust on the shelves of multiple organisations; it’s about more than that.
Our aim is that the task force will identify solutions and act as a catalyst for change, mobilising activity across the public sector, charitable organisations and private companies. Such joint efforts will ultimately create an unstoppable momentum for real change to happen at grass roots level.
We are just about to get started on an exciting and important agenda and journey. It is undoubtedly ambitious, but definitely worth it because – let’s be clear – elderly malnutrition is a scourge on our society and costs us all dearly.
For news and updates from the Malnutrition Task Force, visit www.apetito.co.uk/news.
* apetito offers frozen food and catering solutions to care homes, local authorities and hospitals, as well as providing frozen and hot meal delivery services