News An older people’s nurse has been named RCN Wales Nurse of the Year for 2014. Veronica Jarman, a day hospital sister at Powys Teaching Health Board, was given the award in recognition of her work developing an integrated falls assessment clinic. She was also presented with the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales award at the ceremony held in Cardiff. Oral presentation or poster display abstracts are invited for Nurse Clinics 2015 to be held on November 19. Deadline for submission is March 12. Further information is available at www.healthcareconferencesuk. co.uk/event/1074 RCN deputy director of nursing Steve Jamieson is leaving the college to become the chief executive officer of the Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. Mr Jamieson, who will take up the post in March, has been at the RCN since 1997. The Barbers’ Company clinical nursing scholarship, worth up to £7,500, enables nurses to undertake further education, research or a clinical project. Applicants should submit a brief outline of about 500 words on their course, research or project, together with their CV and covering letter to p.d.kent@warwick. ac.uk Deadline is February 28. Annual GP health checks for people with learning disabilities are helping to identify previously undiagnosed problems, according to research published in Lancet Psychiatry. GPs are paid to identify people with learning disabilities on their books and paid again if they give them an annual health check. But although such checks are proving to be helpful, only 60% of surgeries are signed up to the scheme. 6

February 2015 | Volume 27 | Number 1

Protected mealtimes in hospitals not being properly implemented RELATIVES OF older patients should be involved in helping to feed them when they are in hospital, according to the chair of the Hospital Caterers Association. Andy Jones said protected mealtimes were one of the best things to come out of the Better Hospital Food programme, introduced by the Department of Health to ensure the provision of high quality food for patients. But protected mealtimes have not been properly implemented, said Mr Jones. Speaking at the Food Matters Live conference in London, Mr Jones said hospitals often move family and friends off wards during mealtimes, when it would be better if they stayed to help their loved one to eat. Older patients in hospital can struggle to eat independently and being unwell, they might lack appetite and need extra support and encouragement, said Mr Jones. He added that involving relatives in such a way would take pressure off nurses.

Campaigners in Scotland want to see more done to eradicate fuel poverty NURSES IN Scotland are backing a campaign that calls on the government to tackle fuel poverty to reduce ill health among people living in cold and damp homes. RCN Scotland has joined the call by environmental charity WWF Scotland and the Existing Homes Alliance for greater investment in energy efficiency. It comes after Scottish Government figures for 2013 revealed 940,000 households across the country were classed as being in fuel poverty – when a household has to spend more than 10% of its income on heating – a rise of about 100,000 from the previous year. The government has set a 2016 target for eradicating fuel poverty, but campaigners say it should be doing more. RCN Scotland director Theresa Fyffe said: ‘Nurses are on the front line of patient care and know only too well the real health problems linked to fuel poverty.

The charity Age UK estimates that more than three million people across the UK are either malnourished or at risk of malnourishment. More than one million of these are over the age of 65. Alamy

In brief

Family and friends should be encouraged to stay during mealtimes so they can help their loved one to eat

‘Every year we see up to 2,000 excess winter deaths in Scotland alone. We need to see greater investment in making our housing stock more energy efficient, therefore reducing illnesses related to damp, cold homes.’

Accuracy of device that detects nerve damage in diabetes to be tested THE NATIONAL Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended research into the diagnostic accuracy of a device that is designed to detect nerve damage caused by diabetes. VibraTip, which issues a near-silent vibration, is held against a patient’s foot, once on vibrate and once without, and the patient is asked to say when they feel the vibration. Nerve damage, which can cause tingling in the hands and feet and muscle weakness, can mean injuries such as cuts go unnoticed, putting the patient at risk of developing a diabetic foot ulcer. Diabetes UK estimates that 80,000 Britons have foot ulcers. NURSING OLDER PEOPLE

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Campaigners in Scotland want to see more done to eradicate fuel poverty.

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