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Carers vital in helping prevent malnutrition in Welsh elderly
| Published: 28th September 2020 12:01 |
MALNUTRITION in the elderly is rife and it can often go unnoticed but helping prevent starvation in Wales are the carers who work for an award-winning care provider (September 2020).
Abacare says there is a common misconception that older people naturally lose weight. Causes of malnutrition, such as illness, loneliness and loss of mobility are more common.
Caroline Jones, Regional at Abacare, which provides care across Wales, said: “While column inches in our national newspapers and magazines are dedicated to obesity in the young, malnutrition in the elderly is going unnoticed.
“According to Age UK, more than one million people over the age of 65 are malnourished or at risk of malnourishment. The condition is often poorly understood or not dealt with properly. The condition can affect health and wellbeing, increase hospital admissions, and can lead to long-term health problems for otherwise healthy and independent older people.
“Many people over the age of 65 may live alone and will often see no point in cooking themselves a proper meal, instead opting for snack food or microwave meals, which means they aren’t getting the nutrients they need.
“Malnutrition can also be exacerbated due to local shop closures, cuts to meals on wheels services or lunch clubs as well as illness, immobility and even bereavement.
“Addressing malnutrition needs to be a key priority for everyone involved in an elderly person’s life. This is especially essential in the current climate after many elderly folk have spent extended amounts of time at home alone due to the Coronavirus pandemic and may have not been eating properly.
“Our carers are vital in helping prevent our elderly service users from starving. When visiting a service user, our carers can make them breakfast, lunch or an evening meal and as part of their care plan, they can manage their nutritional care. They can also help them with their food shopping if needed.”
Abacare operates a professional Care Management Team that is committed to providing high quality care to individuals in their own homes.
Caroline added: “We’re supporting our colleagues in the NHS wholeheartedly, as we do on a daily basis already, by providing invaluable care for those who need it at home.
“By maintaining their health at home, we’re helping keep them safe. We’re ensuring they take their prescribed medication and we’re caring for their physical and emotional well-being every day. All this helps prevent adding additional pressure on the NHS and its resources, which we know will be under considerable strain in the coming months.”
Abacare’s large team of trained, specialist, care workers provide positive based outcomes and person-centred care to people throughout the UK.
Caroline continued: “It’s super important to raise awareness of elderly malnutrition and we would urge anyone out there who has an elderly family member, friend or neighbour, to ensure they are eating properly if they are not receiving social care visits. Anyone interested in having one of our expert carers visit them or a loved-one should get in touch via www.abacare.org.uk.”
Abacare operates a professional Care Management Team that is committed to providing high quality care to individuals in their own homes.
The large team of trained, specialist, care workers provide positive based outcomes and person-centred care to people throughout the UK.
Abacare’s core values, instilled into every staff member, include ‘make us proud’, ‘focus on our service users’ wellbeing’, ‘communicate, listen well and speak with respect’, ‘be passionate, honest, caring and considerate’, ‘recruit and develop the very best’ and ‘lead by example’.
It believes it offers inspiring work for inspirational people as well as a flexible and supported working environment.
Caroline continued: “Anyone who would like a job for life looking after people, can take on a career in care with us. Being a carer is a highly skilled, professional vocational occupation that is essential to the fabric of our society and the beauty of a job for life means people can start at the very bottom and work their way up with training and qualifications.
“We are looking for kind, honest, caring and reliable individuals who wish to have a stable and long-term career in care, and who would like to forge rewarding relationships with the service users they care for. No experience is necessary to become a carer, as free, full training is given.
“We can provide our free, full training on a fast-track basis to make sure everyone we take on is ready. This includes a company induction, first aid, information on dementia, health and safety, food safety, infection control, handling medication and moving and handling service users, with the opportunity to achieve Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) after the initial three months probationary period. The Government has also taken steps to ensure a quicker turnaround on DBS checks, so people can get into work quicker.
“New recruits are given free uniforms, access to national staff discount scheme for all major brands as well as 28 days paid holiday, paid travel between calls and paid mileage.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who is looking for a change of career or someone who just fancies a bit of a change. Being a carer is an extremely rewarding job and you get to meet lots of wonderful people too.”
Anyone interested should contact their nearest branch and details of these can be found at https://abacare.org.uk/contact-us/. People can also find out more information about job vacancies at www.indeed.com/cmp/Abacare.
Abacare is a member of the United Kingdom Homecare Association, Ceretas (formerly British Association of Domiciliary Care), The National Homecare Council and The Information Commissioners Office (Data Protection). It is also registered with the Care Inspectorate Wales.
For more information or to enquire about a position at Abacare, please visit www.abacare.org.uk or www.indeed.com/cmp/Abacare. Alternatively, please follow the company on Facebook at http://bit.ly/2S5LDgb or on Twitter by visiting www.twitter.com/visitabacare.
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