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Malnutrition in Hospitals |
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In a debate in the Lords on 20 March 2007, Baroness Knight of Collingtree said, “The more that one looks into this problem facing elderly people in NHS hospitals, the more horrifying is the picture that emerges. I was alerted to it more than five years ago. Ever since, I have checked and re-checked the facts and received letters, and what I have learned has angered and upset me a great deal. . . .
“Some old people are quite literally being starved to death. It is not more than ‘some’, but I worry about every single one of them. There is a growing realisation of this; there have been television programmes and newspaper articles. A recent BBC ‘Look East’ programme elicited the biggest response that it has ever had. I have received more than 200 foolscap pages from the BBC, sent in by relatives or friends who have visited people in hospital and seen for themselves what has happened. I spent a long time putting together a dossier for the Minister, Lord Hunt. He has been most helpful. . . .
“Some old people are being deliberately organised into a condition where ‘nil by mouth’ can be put on their bed….”
Lord Hunt has been moved, and is no longer the Government Health spokesman.
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