Hospital Care
The Sunday Herald carried a front page splash yesterday - on a new policy for drafting in volunteers to help feed frail patients during meal times.
The initiativeis being tied out in Ayrshire - apparently - and recruits local volunteers to support patients who need help eating and drinking.
Predictably, the doom-mongers and naysayers are out in force - with the nursing unions saying that volunteers should not be used - to provide patient care on the cheap.
Well if you ask me - it's a good idea and one that's certainly worth looking into in more detail.
My mother was in and out of hospital before she died - and she lost weight every time - she didn't like the food which was truly awful much of the time - and she didn't get any pleasure from eating on her own.
Yet when I went up to the hospital and took her out for lunch or dinner - she would enjoy her food and with it a glass of wine.
I would have happily gone up to the hosptial and fed my Mum myself on occasion - with food I had made - to ensure she got something tasty - something she actually liked.
And this kind of arrangement happens frequently in Europe - in Spain for example - where family members are much more directly involved in caring for relatives - particularly elderly relatives.
But the health service in Scotland doesn't encourage that kind of thinking - at the moment anyway.
In fact in some wards and hospitals it's a battle to get in to see a friend or relative - outside of the normal visiting times.
So I think it's a great initiative - not an evil plot to have people doing things on the cheap.
Instead it's a recognition that some patients are lonely and very isolated in hospital.
And anything that can be done to make a stay in hospital more homely and friendly - is a good thing in my book.
The initiativeis being tied out in Ayrshire - apparently - and recruits local volunteers to support patients who need help eating and drinking.
Predictably, the doom-mongers and naysayers are out in force - with the nursing unions saying that volunteers should not be used - to provide patient care on the cheap.
Well if you ask me - it's a good idea and one that's certainly worth looking into in more detail.
My mother was in and out of hospital before she died - and she lost weight every time - she didn't like the food which was truly awful much of the time - and she didn't get any pleasure from eating on her own.
Yet when I went up to the hospital and took her out for lunch or dinner - she would enjoy her food and with it a glass of wine.
I would have happily gone up to the hosptial and fed my Mum myself on occasion - with food I had made - to ensure she got something tasty - something she actually liked.
And this kind of arrangement happens frequently in Europe - in Spain for example - where family members are much more directly involved in caring for relatives - particularly elderly relatives.
But the health service in Scotland doesn't encourage that kind of thinking - at the moment anyway.
In fact in some wards and hospitals it's a battle to get in to see a friend or relative - outside of the normal visiting times.
So I think it's a great initiative - not an evil plot to have people doing things on the cheap.
Instead it's a recognition that some patients are lonely and very isolated in hospital.
And anything that can be done to make a stay in hospital more homely and friendly - is a good thing in my book.
