A practical guide to improving nutrition on the wards

Citation

(2008), "A practical guide to improving nutrition on the wards", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 38 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2008.01738aac.005

A practical guide to improving nutrition on the wards

A practical guide to improving nutrition on the wards

Third Annual Conference, 20 Cavendish Square, London, 9 October 2007

Ensuring patients nutritional needs are met and delivering on the Essence of Care benchmark which is an aspect of quality in the hospital sector.

The third annual nutrition conference provided practical guidance on moving forward with improving nutrition in hospitals, the benefits to patients and sustaining good practice following implementation of the essence of care benchmark for nutrition.

It has long been recognised that there has been significant need to improve nutrition in hospitals. Patient Environmental Action Teams (PEAT) were established in 2000 to assess NHS hospitals. Under the programme every patient healthcare facility in England with more than ten beds is assessed annually and given a rating of excellent, good, acceptable, poor or unacceptable.

The PEAT data for 2006 showed a continued improvement in the standard of hospital food and cleaning which is a clear indication that nutrition in hospitals is improving and the nutritional needs of patients are being met.

The conference was attended by 75 staff mainly from the nursing profession with a handful of dietitians and catering managers.

Keynote address from the Royal College of Nursing included:

Meeting the nutritional needs of patients: making a valuable contribution.

Debbie Dzik-Jurasz, Clinical Leadership Co-ordinator described:

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  improving nutrition on the wards: a national update from the Royal College of Nursing;

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  implementing national guidelines to meet the nutritional needs of patients.

Critical Factors in improving patient’s nutritional care at ward level was presented by

Caroline Lecko, Nutritional Lead, National Patient Safety Agency who discussed:

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  improvements to date: results from the PEAT data 2006;

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  promoting protected mealtimes and reviewing effectiveness; and

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  identifying the issues and support needed to address nutrition patient safety issues.

Delivering on the essence of care benchmark for nutrition and sustaining good practice by

John Badham, Associate Director Board Development Programme and Professional Nurse Advisor – National Clinical Governance Support Team, described:

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  delivering on the essence of care benchmark for nutrition;

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  local and national developments and achievements in practice; and

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  reviewing good practice and planning for future sustainability and development

Changing culture and practice at mealtimes: valuing and empowering the person by

Liz Evans, Ward Sister, Buckingham Hospitals NHS Trust and committee member National Nurses Nutrition Group emphasised:

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  implementing the Essence of Care benchmark for nutrition;

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  changing ways of working and developing a co-ordinated multi-disciplinary approach involving patients, their relatives and carers;

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  developing protocols, guidelines and documentation to support good practice; and

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  implementing new initiatives in Buckinghamshire.

Developing and implementing nutritional assessment and screening

The Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) is a five-step screening tool to identify adults who are malnourished, at risk of malnutrition (under nutrition), or obese. It also includes management guidelines, which can be used to develop a care plan. It is for use in hospitals, community and other settings and can be used by all care workers.

Professor Marinos Elia – Honorary Chairman British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition and Professor of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Institute of Human Nutrition, University of Southampton.

He detailed:

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  the principles of nutritional screening and assessments;

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  identifying the patient at risk.

The MUST tool can easily be used in all situations by non-nutritional experts.

Nursing Management of the patient at nutritional risk by:

Andrea Cartwright, Chairperson, National Nurses Nutrition Group and Senior Nutrition Nurse Specialist, Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital NHS Trust looked at:

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  planning, implementing and evaluation nursing care;

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  developing local nutritional strategies to meet the needs of patients; and

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  identifying the nurses role in the management of nutritional deficits.

Philip Hurst, Policy Manager of Age Concern described:

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  changing culture and practice from the board to the ward to implement the core standards on food and help with eating;

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  listening to older patients and acting on what they say; and

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  the recommendations from Age Concern to improve practice.

Improving Hospital Food and Service Delivery by:

Sian Shepherd, Dietitian, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust included:

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  improving the quality of hospital food

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  overcoming the challenges at ward level: bringing catering and clinical staff together; and

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  our experience at the Royal Marsden.

Auditing and monitoring progress and improving nutrition by:

Deborah Wheeler, Director of Nursing and Clinical Development, the Whittington Hospital Trust included:

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  measuring progress in improving nutrition;

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  updating documentation following an audit; and

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  improving nutrition at the Whittington.

One of the key elements that was quite evident from the meeting and emphasised by many of the speakers was the need for multi-disciplinary working by nurses, dietitians, speech therapists and catering staff.

For a full list of the conferences visit www.healthcare-events.co.uk