Elderly people need better foot care service

Care failure traps elderly - Telegraph

Extract:

"ELDERLY people are being left housebound as a result of a lack of basic care to help them look after their feet, it was claimed today (Mon).

Thousands of pensioners are becoming increasingly disabled because the NHS is not providing simple services such as chiropody.

According to a report by Age Concern, many elderly people now risk hurting themselves in dangerous falls as they are not being given adequate care to help them look after their feet.

The NHS has recently cut back on services such as chiropody clinics in which elderly people are provided with basic services such as toe-nail cutting and relief for aches and pains.

As a result, a high proportion of older people have suffered a loss of mobility and independence because they can not walk.

Some are being forced to wait for weeks on over-subscribed waiting lists while others do not have access to any NHS clinics in their local area.

Gordon Lishman, Director General of Age Concern, said: "Foot care services are failing older people and a postcode lottery is leaving those in some areas without any services at all.

"Some of the older people we have talked to are taking desperate measures including cutting their nails with gardening shears or kicking solid walls in their bare feet to break their nails."

One of the main reasons that old people are unable to cut their toenails themselves is that they have put on a lot of weight and they find it difficult to reach their feet properly. Cutting down on salt and salty food is the safe and simple way to lose some excess weight as this reduces fluid retention which is what has caused the weight gain.

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See Sodium in foods and

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