Better Hospital Food

Nutrition

The delivery of adequate and appropriate nutrition to hospital patients is a key issue for caterers and dieticians.

Intake of nutritious food is crucial for patients who are recovering from the effects of medical or surgical procedures. Patients who receive good nutrition may have shorter hospital stays, fewer post-operative complications and less need for drugs and other interventions.

In order to ensure the effective delivery of good nutrition in healthcare facilities a team-based approach is essential. Caterers, kitchen staff, dieticians, nurses, doctors, ward housekeepers and porters all have an important part to play.

A major challenge facing caterers and nutritionists is the number of patients entering healthcare facilities in a malnourished state. Studies show that up to 40 per cent of hospital patients are malnourished on admission. This means they have not been eating well enough to keep themselves healthy.

In order to address the issue of malnourished hospital patients the Council of Europe has published a major report. The report contains 117 recommendations designed to support healthcare providers across Europe.

Resources

Council of Europe report
Recommendations from the Council of Europe’s committee of experts on nutrition, food safety and consumer protection.
CoE adoption text (64Kb Word document)
Council of Europe: report on nutrition
Council of Europe: 10 Key Characteristics of good nutritional care in hospitals (195kb PDF document)

Food, Fluids and Nutritional Care in Hospitals
Scotland launched clinical standards in 2003 in relation to food, fluids and nutritional care.
Clinical Standards report Sept '03 (245Kb PDF document)

Royal College of Nursing Institute report
Special report commissioned from the Royal College of Nursing Institute published in May 2005. Savage J & Scott C (2005) Patients' nutritional care in hospital: An ethnographic study of nurses' role and patients' experience. A report to NHS Estates.
Patients' nutritional care in hospital

Nutritional spreadsheet
Spreadsheet containing information on the nutritional content of National Dish Selector recipes.
Nutritional spreadsheet May '05 (168Kb Excel document)

Nutrition fact sheets
The fact sheets aim to improve the nutritional screening of patients and service users entering a care setting.
Nutrition fact sheet 1
Food service and safe delivery of nutritional care (1.1Mb pdf)
Nutrition fact sheet 2
Implementation of ward protected mealtimes to provide an environment conducive to feeding (1.5Mb pdf)
Nutrition fact sheet 3
Hospital-wide support for a multidisciplinary approach to nutritional care drawing on staff groups working in partnership with patients and service users (1.5Mb pdf)
Nutrition fact sheet 4
Care provider to include specific guidance on food and beverage services and nutrition/hydration care in its service delivery and accountability arrangements (1Mb pdf)
Nutrition fact sheet 5
Everyone entering care services is screened to identify those who are malnourished or at risk of becoming malnourished (761Kb pdf)
Nutrition fact sheet 6
Facilities and services are designed to be flexible and centred on the needs of the people using them (1Mb pdf)
Nutrition fact sheet 7
Everyone using care services has a personal care/support plan and, where possible, has personal input to identify their nutritional care and fluids needs, and how they are to be met (1Mb pdf)
Nutrition fact sheet 8
All staff/volunteers have the appropriate skills and competencies needed to ensure that the nutritional and fluid needs of people using care services are met. All staff/volunteers receive regular training on nutritional care and management (773.79 Kb pdf)
Nutrition fact sheet 9
People using care services are involved in the planning and monitoring arrangements for food services and beverage/drinks provision (754.62 Kb pdf)
Nutrition fact sheet 10
The care provider has a policy for food service and nutitional care, which is centred on the needs of users, and is performance managed in line with home country governance and/or regulatory framework (744.22 Kb pdf)

The British Dietetic Association National Descriptors for Texture Modification in Adults
The National Descriptors for Texture Modification in Adults 2002 were commissioned and produced jointly by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) and The British Dietetic Association (BDA).
National Descriptors for Texture Modification in Adults