Water UK Action on Elder Abuse British Medical Association Chartered Institute of Environmental Health Developing Patient Partnerships Drinking Water Inspectorate Drinking Water Inspectorate - Northern IrelandDrinking Water Inspectorate - Northern Ireland Drinking Water Quality Regulator Scotland ECCA ERIC Focus On Food Health Education Trust Healthy Schools Hospital Caterers Association Kidney Research Local Authority Caterers Association Men's Health Forum National Association of Care Catering National Care Association National Governors' Council National Heart Forum The National Kidney Research Fund Royal Institute of Public Health Royal College of Nursing The Royal Society for the Promotion of HealthThe Royal Society for the Promotion of Health Schools Health Education Unit TOAST Unison United Kingdom Public Health Association WRVS WaterAid The Water for Health Alliance

“Water is a basic nutrient of the human body, critical to human life” World Health Organization - Water, Sanitation and Health Guidance

“Dehydration has been acknowledged as a serious problem in the NHS, especially in older hospitals that have little ventilation and warm, crowded wards”. Sunday Telegraph, 11 April 2004

“We are working on the premise that patients should be drinking two and a half litres a day, or half a litre of water with each meal” “Unfortunately that is not happening at present” Michael Moszynski, Chief Executive of Immediate Sales, an M&G Saatchi marketing company

“In our view, getting patients to drink more water is important…It’s part of our approach to good nourishment and we are looking at a variety of ways to encourage it” Jane Riley, Director of Policy and Development, NHS Estates – Daily Express 12 April 2004

“the process for making sure that people in hospital get everything their bodies need to give them enough energy. This will be different for each person and may depend on what is wrong with them” Understanding the standards for food, fluid and nutritional care in hospitals, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland

“There should be fresh drinking water at all times, unless there is a medical reason for a patient not to drink”. Standard 4, Understanding the standard for food, fluid and nutritional care in hospitals NHS Quality Improvement Scotland

“Although the majority (of coffee) is drunk by patients in the wards, the largest profit opportunity is with hospital visitors” Advertisement, Hospital Caterers Magazine

“In recent years, the health benefits of water have been increasingly promoted and sales of bottled waters have rocketed”. “Patients’ reluctance to use hospital jugs of water has been heightened by fears over the potentially fatal MRSA superbug”. Daily Express 12 April 2004

What Hospitals say about serving water “We change the water jugs regularly, and take it from a water cooler which is near the ward…when it is fresh and cold, the patients are happy to drink as much as we can provide” “Definitely the biggest thing to overcome for us is the patients reluctance to go to the toilet more often. As many of them are having to take laxatives though, the team have to convince them to drink more” “We start serving water from as soon as the patients are awake, that’s when they most want a refreshing drink” “If you try to take away the tea trolley, you will face total rebellion…..to get people to consume more water we are encouraging a smaller coffee with a little glass of water – just like you get on holiday really…..” “Rather than waste money on flowers, I ask the family to buy a small pot of fresh mint from the garden centre, and then we put the leaves in a pot, a bit like tea. It smells really nice and its great for the patients digestion too…”