Our Top Tips for Helping People with Dysphagia

This week is Nutrition and Hydration Week, a week committed to focusing energy, activity and engagement on nutrition & hydration as an important part of quality & safety in health & social care settings. Every day this week we will be bringing you our best practice tips, helpful advice and more, designed to give you inspiration to improve nutrition and hydration levels for the people you support.

Swallowing difficulties may occur in people who have a Dementia, Motor Neuron Disease and other neurological conditions. These swallowing difficulties are known as Dysphagia.

Our top tips to help people with Dysphagia

• good oral hygiene is important as any oral pain can make chewing difficult and uncomfortable
• make sure that dentures are correctly fitted
• ensure that the person is alert and sitting upright before offering food or drink
• texture preferences may change try softer moist foods for easy chewing and swallowing
• gently rubbing the neck the cheek or neck may help to prompt swallowing

NB if you notice any signs of Dysphagia such as coughing or choking on particular types of food it is really important to refer to a Speech and Language Therapist for further assessment.

Our recommended solutions

The Dysphagia cup has been carefully designed and is shaped to allow sufficient nose clearance to empty contents without having to tilt your head back.

The Drink-Rite Cup provides a controlled flow of fluid into the mouth. This is important as some users will not be able to drink and swallow safely if there is too much fluid delivered this often occurs after a stroke or other head and neck issues.

The Ornamin mug with internal cone helps people with limited movement in the head and neck to drink independently with a choice of spouts these mugs are adaptable to suit many varying types of drinking challenges.

There are two specific spouts which are suitable for people with swallowing difficulties -

• Ornamin Spouted Lid Non Drip White
• Ornamin Wide Spout Lid Clear-suitable for thicker fluids

If you've missed our previous blogs discussing  key topics on nutrition and hydration  and would like more help and tips to improve your residents' dining experience and improve their nutrition and hydration  levels, check out our blogs here.

Also please feel free to pop back each day during #nutritionandhydrationweek as we share best practice advice on these important issues and we'd love you to join our mailing list where we regularly share the knowledge and experience we have gained working in the care sector for over 25 years, helping to keep you in touch with new and innovative solutions which support safety and dignity for the people you support.

You can also order your copy of our Dignified Dining Solutions Guide,  designed to help people with a Dementia to eat better, by calling us on the number below.

As always, you can contact us on 01773 713713 or sales@hcsuk.co.uk to discuss how we can help you and those in your care.