Failure by care homes to give the elderly residents enough water to drink amounts to neglect, a leading campaigner has said.

Baroness Greengross, founder of the charity Action on Elder Abuse, called for minimum standards of hydration for those in care homes to help ward off infection, dizziness and falls among the elderly.

The baroness said investigations into elderly care focused on malnutrition to the exclusion of dehydration and she urged ministers to look at a scheme to encourage drinking more water at a care home in Suffolk.

Severe dehydration makes frail people more vulnerable to infections, dizziness, confusion, and to falls, from which many never fully recover.

A scheme at The Martins care home in Bury St Edmunds, where residents are being encouraged to drink eight to 10 glasses of water a day, has seen the number of falls drop sharply. The 18-month study by Anglian Water indicated a 50 per cent reduction in the number of falls after residents were encouraged to drink water at regular intervals during the day, there were also fewer urinary infections and GP call outs.

The Suffolk scheme has drawn a lot of interest from other care providers.

There is some guidance on this issue in place across the UK, but in England and Wales governments say they are looking to produce stronger standards.

Gary Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of Action on Elder Abuse said: “ Not only do we encourage all care providers to sign up to a Good Hydration Charter, but we urge the Government and CSCI to take immediate action to ensure that good standards of hydration are the norm for all care home residents. This should include further research into the benefits of such hydration polices, along with serious consideration as to whether we need minimum standards around hydration that are similar to nutrition”

Fitzgerald continued, “It is amazing that something as simple and straightforward as water could have such wide benefits for care home residents, including a reduction in falls, better sleeping patterns and less agitation. However the benefits of good hydration policies would have much wider benefits, including reducing pressure on GP’s and other NHS services, if it was more widely implemented. Can we really afford not to take immediate action to ensure the continued good health and well being of care home residents?”

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