About the Hydration in Older People programme
This programme has been designed to increase your knowledge and confidence in assessing an older person’s hydration needs and minimising their risk of poor hydration in a person-centred way.
Aimed at any person working with older people in the community, including care home staff, home carers, family carers and volunteers, the elearning builds on the information and skills you may have already learnt and implemented from the Care Certificate.
The Hydration in Older People elearning is part of the Hydration at Home Toolkit, both of which have been endorsed by the British Dietetic Association.
Developed by Wessex Academic Health Science Network and Hampshire County Council, the Malnutrition Task Force is responsible for carrying out future updates of the training course.
More information
The elearning takes approximately 45 minutes to complete and is comprised of three sections which map to the learning objectives for the programme:
1. How poor hydration can impact older people
2. How to assess an older person’s hydration needs
3. How to address an older person’s hydration needs to improve their health and wellbeing
After completing the sections, you will be asked to undertake an assessment to check your knowledge.
Designed to be as interactive as possible, the programme features activities, a short video and an assessment in the form of a case study. Whilst the content has been specifically designed for community carers, the messages are relevant to all carers, including those working in acute care settings.
Please note that if you have already completed the hydration in older people elearning via the Hampshire County Council hub, you do not need to repeat the training on the elfh Hub.
This hydration elearning package is part of the Hydration at Home Toolkit, which includes resources for the general public, including a hydration leaflet and poster.
For more information, and to access these resources, please visit: https://wessexahsn.org.uk/projects/354/hydration-at-home-toolkit
Meet the team
Annemarie Aburrow
Consultant Dietitian, Wessex AHSN
Dr Sarah O’Callaghan
Hydration Clinical Lead, Wessex AHSN
Cheryl Davies
Healthy Ageing Programme Manager, Wessex AHSN
Marie Sunderland
Workforce Development Officer, Hampshire County Council
How to access
In order to access the Hydration in Older People programme, you will need an elfh account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.
To view the Hydration in Older People programme, select the View button below. If you already have an account with elfh, you will also be able to login and enrol on the programme from the View button.
Not an NHS organisation?
If you are not an NHS health or care organisation and therefore do not qualify for free access elfh Hub, you may be able to access the service by creating an OpenAthens account.
To check whether or not you qualify for free access via OpenAthens, you can view the eligibility criteria and register on the ‘OpenAthens’ portal.
Registering large numbers of users
If you are a HR, IT or Practice Manager and would like to register and enrol large numbers of staff within your organisation for access onto the Hydration in Older People programme, please contact elfh directly.
Organisations wishing to use their own LMS
For HR departments wanting to know more about gaining access to courses using an existing Learning Management System please contact elfh directly to express interest.
More information
Please select the following link for more information on how to use the elfh Hub.