FORMER Health Secretary Alan Milburn has called on hospitals to become more consumer-friendly, to ensure that elderly patients do not miss out at mealtimes.

The Darlington MP made his plea at the regional launch of Age Concern's Hungry to be Heard campaign, at the town's Memorial Hospital.

The national campaign highlights the problem of elderly patients missing out on hospital meals during treatment.

Mr Milburn told an audience of Age Concern activists and NHS staff that the problem of malnourished elderly hospital patients would not be solved by setting more targets and spending more money.

Instead, the NHS needed to pay more attention to individual patient needs, in line with our more consumer-oriented society.

"I don't think the answer is more targets, or more guidance. What it requires is a big change in culture. It's not that we don't know what needs to be done, it's about making sure it becomes a priority and part of the culture of the organisation."

Mr Milburn said things would be very different if the pay of hospital chief executives was geared to the satisfaction level of patients.

He welcomed the campaign, and praised Darlington Memorial Hospital for introducing pictorial menus for patients, one of the first in the country to do so.

Karen Pettett, regional development officer for Age Concern North-East, said despite improvements, older patients were still being left malnourished and dehydrated.

Statistics collected by Age Concern showed that four out of ten older patients are already malnourished when they arrive in hospital, and six out of ten are at risk of becoming more malnourished during their stay.

The charity was working with NHS hospitals to raise awareness of this problem, and to ensure that elderly patients got the assistance they needed at meal times, she added.

Alison McCree, associate director of estates and facilities at the County Durham and Darlington Foundation NHS Trust, who until recently was chairwoman of the Hospital Caterers Association, said NHS hospitals in the North-East were leading the way in improved food and closer attention to the needs of elderly patients at meal times.

"It is a lot better up here than further down the country. I would not like to be a patient in a London hospital," she added.

Apart from raising awareness among hospital staff, the Age Concern campaign also urges older patients to raise any concerns they have with nurses.