Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Dietetics has been a concern of mine for years in respect of people in nursing homes. The HSE did a great deal of work on cutting back on elemental feeds and so on. To follow on from Deputy Durkan's commentary, wound management and protein content of food is vital for older people and people with an injury, old or young. I agree with the Deputy Durkan that while hospital meals have improved in recent years, a fundamental part of growing and repairing a patient's body seems to have been neglected. It is unacceptable that older people or people with swallow issues can be handed a carton of Ensure.

Regardless of their age or the complexity of their needs, people receiving care have a very basic right to have a balanced diet made available to them if they are not able to get their own food, which will obviously be the case if they are in a nursing home. Diet has to mesh with medication, doctors and nursing. This issue cannot be left on its own. There is no point in a patient getting wonderful wound care from wound specialists using really expensive pressure sore bandages if he or she is getting no protein. That wound will never heal. This has been ignored or left to the wayside for the years, probably due to the power of the companies making the elemental feeds.