A charity is urging hospitals around the country to follow Bradford's lead in ensuring elderly patients eat properly.

A study by Age Concern found six out of ten older patients are at risk of becoming malnourished in hospital.

And nine out of ten nurses say they do not always have the time to help ensure hospital patients eat properly.

The charity says the NHS is continuing to fail patients despite guidelines which make feeding a core priority.

Now it has started a campaign called Hungry to be Heard to raise awareness of the problem and call for protected mealtimes during which all non-urgent activity is suspended.

Gordon Lishman, Age Concern director-general, said: "The majority of older patients are being denied some of the basic care they need, leaving hundreds of thousands malnourished."

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which runs St Luke's Hospital and Bradford Royal Infirmary has already implemented protected meal times across all elderly care wards and adult patient areas.

In elderly care a red tray scheme is used to highlight those patients who need assistance with feeding and volunteer helpers have been introduced.

The volunteers have undertaken training to learn how to feed patients, especially those with swallowing problems, which enables nurses to concentrate on the most nutritionally compromised patients.

In addition the catering department and dieticians provide a system of high calorie nutritional supplements for patients, along with cakes and extra milky drinks.

Rose Stephens, deputy chief executive and chief nurse at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Good nutritional intake is essential to our patients' recovery. Our staff consider this to be a fundamental element of basic patient care."

The Trust would be interested in recruiting more volunteers to support the work and anyone interested in finding out more about the role should contact Christine Heaton, voluntary services manager on (01274) 364309.

e-mail: claire.lomax@bradford.newsquest.co.uk