Public toilets
Public toilets play a vital role in ensuring
that visits are accessible to people of all ages. They can be a lifeline for
older people, providing them with freedom, independence and the confidence they
need to lead fulfilling and active lives. Adequate public toilet provision but
more importantly not just the number but their location is vital to enable
older people to maintain their dignity and participate in community life.
The Welsh Government funded
Community Toilet Grant Scheme launched in 2008 provides local authorities with
grant funding to encourage local businesses to open their facilities to the
public.
I believe that the Scheme,
together with the provision of toilet facilities for public use within all public
buildings, must be better publicised and promoted.
There must be clear and visible
branding and signage (eg notices in windows of premises taking part in the
Scheme), if they are to form a solution to toilet provision alongside public
toilets provided by the local authority.
I welcome proposals in the Welsh Government’s Public Health Bill to
strengthen the role of public authorities in planning for the provision of and
access to toilets for public use, to meet the needs of their communities.
Voluntary meeting places
I believe that local authorities
have a vital role in supporting community facilities and activities through
working in partnership with voluntary and community groups, and exploring the
co-design and delivery of such services. Such facilities could also promote
intergenerational activities.
Older people have said that local
authorities could do more to support and facilitate informal interest groups
and clubs, and have suggested that public buildings such as community centres
and libraries could be used more than they are now.
An example of a good
practice initiative to improve the quality of life for older people is Age
Cymru Gwynedd a Môn’s Age Well centres, where six dedicated centres have opened
throughout Gwynedd and Anglesey utilising funding from the Big Lottery, Gwynedd
County Council and Lifelong Health and Wellbeing funding in partnership with
Bangor University. The benefit of these centres, which are hubs for the
community, is to introduce people back into their local communities and help
older people to overcome isolation and loneliness.
The Age Well work has had a
major impact on the lives of individuals that have attended either in a
cognitive, physical or spiritual sense.
Research has shown that
participants at the Age Well Centre in Nefyn gained positive benefits over a 12
month period, and reported that it is possible for over 50s to make meaningful
changes in lifestyle that can help to improve health and wellbeing, given
suitable community resources and a small amount of support.
Participants showed
improvements in aspects of mental fitness, physical health and physical
fitness. The Age Well Centre model is inclusive and is based around social
engagement, with a choice of activities based on members’ preferences and
interests. It is an ideal vehicle for improving health and well-being, and
draws people in to a community which offers support to maintain positive
changes.
Nutrition in care settings
In recent years the public health agenda has focused
resources on tackling the obesity crisis with much less attention being paid to
malnutrition. This is despite the economic burden of malnutrition in the UK
being estimated to be around £7.3 billion a year - equivalent to obesity. Over
half of these costs are being expended on people over the age of 65.
It is
important to stress that whilst work has been done to try to tackle
malnutrition and dehydration in hospitals, unfortunately it still remains a
problem in some wards.
The recent
‘Trusted to care’ report, an independent review
of the quality of care for older people at the Princess of Wales hospital in
Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot Hospital, identified some very specific areas where there were failings in the
care of older patients. These included failures in ensuring patients are kept hydrated. The report issued a number of
recommendations for Welsh Government including to commission a strategic
campaign to increase public and professional understanding that regular
hydration and feeding are as important as hand-cleaning for older people in
hospitals. Therefore further work is required in
hospitals as well as care homes to improve nutrition and hydration.
Hydration
standards are particularly welcomed as we often hear anecdotally in care homes
(and in hospitals) that people do not have constant access to fluids, often if
you miss the ‘tea trolley run’, you may not be offered a drink for hours.
A
balanced diet is also clearly important for good health, but we note standards
must be careful to avoid restricting individual preferences and right to choice
over foods. People with dementia often experience a change in their taste
preferences and flexibility must be incorporated to allow for this.
No Cold Calling Zones
I am calling on the Welsh
Government and local authorities in Wales to examine the case for drastically
increasing the scope and the scale of No Cold Calling Zones to protect older
people from rogue traders and high pressure salespeople on their doorsteps.
I would like to see cold
calling zones extended to cover all of Wales, preferably with an exemption for
political candidates.
I have seen how well they
have been received in my own constituency including the relatively new one at
Clasemont Park.
Research among 1000 individuals across the
demographic groups showed 86% of all respondents were in favour. This number
rose to 93% among older people.
The zones currently in
existence are not legally enforceable. Traders who cold call in these zones are
not committing an offence. An offence is only committed if a cold caller
persists in trying to sell goods or services after they have been asked to
leave - this is regarded as harassment. I believe we need a change in the law
which would give the zones legal enforceability so that flouting them is
potentially a criminal offence. Just making it easier to set them up and to
extend them would generate peace of mind for many.
Low Cost adaptations
Substantial progress has
been made on this since I first started promoting it in the 1990s but again
more needs to be done, more handrails especially in gardens and replacing lino
with carpet to reduce slip hazards would improve lives rather than expensive
DFG when many elderly people want neither the disruption or mess of large scale
work or dealing with the result of the
slip with long term hospitalization.
In conclusion
These are five relatively
cheap ways of improving the lives and the health of elderly people, not as
headline grabbing as spending hundreds of millions of pounds extra on dealing
with the consequences of not carrying out what I have described.
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