{"id":30714,"date":"2018-01-23T15:22:30","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T14:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/?p=30714"},"modified":"2026-01-22T13:49:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:49:21","slug":"united-kingdom-more-than-1m-elderly-risk-withering-away-from-hunger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/united-kingdom-more-than-1m-elderly-risk-withering-away-from-hunger\/","title":{"rendered":"United Kingdom: more than 1m elderly risk ‘withering away’ from hunger"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the United Kingdom, more than 1 million older people are at risk of \u201cwithering away in their own homes\u201d <\/em><\/strong>as a result of malnutrition<\/strong> caused by social isolation and cuts to public services, the all-party parliamentary group on hunger claims.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Nutrition<\/p>\n

A rapport about malnutrition in the UK<\/h2>\n

“Malnutrition, which costs the NHS an estimated \u00a312bn a year, is exacerbated by reductions to social care packages, cuts to meals on wheels services and bus services, and local shop closures”<\/em>, a report by the all-party parliamentary group on hunger\u00a0<\/strong>says.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoneliness accompanied by a bowl of cereal and two sandwiches, every day, every week, should be unacceptable in modern Britain. But within the current legislative framework, it is almost inevitable,\u201d<\/em> it says.<\/p>\n

The report says there is a heightened risk of malnutrition among older people who do not qualify for formal social care packages<\/strong> or whose help does not include assistance with shopping or cooking hot meals. Indeed, “annual spending on meals on wheels services was cut from \u00a396m to \u00a342m in the decade to 2013-14”<\/em>, it says.<\/p>\n

The rapport calls to invest in local services aimed at reducing isolation<\/h2>\n

\"NutritionThe rapport calls for the withdrawal of winter fuel allowances from the very richest pensioners to invest in local services aimed at reducing isolation, hunger and malnutrition<\/strong> by providing hot and fresh food.<\/p>\n

“Supermarkets should do more to make it easier for older people to go shopping”<\/strong><\/em>, it says, by providing community transport, offering lunch clubs in store cafes and introducing special \u201cslow\u201d checkout lanes<\/strong> for less mobile customers.<\/p>\n

There are at least 1.3 million older people suffering from or at risk of malnutrition<\/strong>, the report estimates.<\/p>\n

Malnutrition, a complex issue<\/h2>\n

Frank Field, chair of the parliamentary group<\/a>, said: \u201cThe elimination of malnutrition amongst older people is urgently required for the sake of the NHS, and social care services, but above all for purposes of humaneness.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Izzi Seccombe<\/strong>, chair of the Local Government Association\u2019s community wellbeing board, said: \u201cSignificant funding pressures on councils are already threatening services that elderly people and their friends and families rely on, particularly meals on wheels and luncheon clubs.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

A government spokesperson said: \u201cMalnutrition is a complex issue and most patients diagnosed in England have other serious health and social problems. We know better diagnosis and detection is key which is why we continue to train all health staff to spot the early warning signs of malnutrition so effective treatment can be put into place.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Source<\/small><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the United Kingdom, more than 1 million older people are at risk of \u201cwithering away in their own homes\u201d as a result of malnutrition caused by social isolation and cuts to public services, the all-party parliamentary group on hunger claims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":30718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Nutrition-Malnutrition-1-1.jpg",748,312,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Nutrition-Malnutrition-1-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Nutrition-Malnutrition-1-1-300x125.jpg",300,125,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Nutrition-Malnutrition-1-1.jpg",748,312,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Nutrition-Malnutrition-1-1.jpg",748,312,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Nutrition-Malnutrition-1-1.jpg",748,312,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Nutrition-Malnutrition-1-1.jpg",748,312,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"SilverEconomy","author_link":"https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/author\/enredac26\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"In the United Kingdom, more than 1 million older people are at risk of \u201cwithering away in their own homes\u201d as a result of malnutrition caused by social isolation and cuts to public services, the all-party parliamentary group on hunger claims.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48375,"href":"https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30714\/revisions\/48375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.silvereco.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}