Proposition 54K0821

Proposition de résolution concernant l'amélioration de la prise en charge de la dénutrition chez les personnes âgées.

General information ¶

Authors

Ecolo Muriel Gerkens
Groen Anne Dedry
Vooruit Maya Detiège

Submission date

Jan. 21, 2015

Official page

Visit

Status

Rejected

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

elderly person resolution of parliament social facilities nutrition public health

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V ∉ Open Vld N-VA MR VB

Voted to reject

Groen Vooruit Ecolo PS | SP DéFI PVDA | PTB PP

Party dissidents ¶

• Olivier Maingain (MR) voted to reject.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

Feb. 4, 2016 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

My speech will be brief and will be supplemented by Mrs. Dimitri. We are in a context of rejection but we still hope to make you change your mind. Why did you submit this resolution and submit it to discussion?

Among those older than 75 years, 12% are undernourished. This does not mean that they have a unbalanced diet, but that they are almost in a food shortage. Furthermore, 45% are at risk of malnutrition, whether at home or in a hospital. In the resting house, we are in the same situation, but I will not talk about it here because these skills have been regionalized. The situation is serious!

In 2011, all the work in Parliament resulted in the mobilisation of nurses and care practitioners, funding and pilot projects that were set up on a voluntary basis. They are not systematically organized through good practices. What minimum good practices should be adopted? For example, through their general practitioner, weight loss should be detected in people over the age of 75. The composition of their meals should be changed to increase their appetite, for example, making repeated small meals. It is also a focus on serious situations, such as mourning, social isolation, hospitalization and return home. There may be an increase in falls, fractures, longer illnesses with complications, loss of muscle strength, loss of autonomy and placement of these people. If attention had been paid to their diet, including their protein intake, these people would be at home and healthy.

Mr. Speaker, even though some competences are shared between the federal, the regions and the communities, the federal level must do something in view of its competences in the field of health. This rejection, this refusal to discuss or improve the proposed text is, to us, inexplicable and dangerous.

This means that this is not a health policy concern. The geriatrists have also reacted quite vividly, saying that this reality exists and that it also affects other patients in oncology or with chronic diseases.

I am pleased that Minister De Block is still here. My colleague Gerkens has just said that Ms. De Block in 2011, when she was a Chamber member, considered this theme ⁇ important. She signed a resolution on this subject.

The more I am surprised by the progress of the discussions in the committee. Several colleagues from the majority, such as Mrs. Van Peel, Mrs. Van Camp, Mrs. Van Hoof, Mr. Thiéry, Mrs. Hufkens and Mrs. Muylle, have said that they consider this topic very important and that they want to work on it. I am very disappointed with the way the discussion went.

If something can be improved to a text, then amendments can be submitted. My colleagues of the majority, you did not. You simply rejected our proposal. I do not think this is the correct way of working.

Mr. Speaker, the current government says to be for efficiency gains. The government is opposed to overconsumption. Several colleagues of the majority explicitly say that there are still savings possible in social security. Well, in the committee I explained very clearly and showed that if we applied the UK directive to patients with malnutrition, we could save 65 million euros. That is nothing, right? However, this also apparently did not count as an argument.

This is a missed opportunity. Therefore, I would like to expressly request that this proposal be reintroduced for discussion in the committee.