Press Releases
The Hospital Caterers Association’s Response to Age Concern’s ‘Hungry To Be Heard’ Report
The Hospital Caterers Association (HCA) shares the concerns and wholeheartedly supports the findings of Age Concern’s ‘Hungry to be Heard’ Report launched today (Tuesday 29 August 2006).
The HCA has been actively raising its concerns over the unacceptable levels of malnutrition and under-nourishment amongst elderly patients for some time. With 40% of patients malnourished upon entry to hospital, there is clearly an urgent need for a more effective screening system on admission and a vigilant monitoring process throughout their stay. Screening is still not universally undertaken and many vulnerable patients slip through the net. The HCA believes that all hospitals should adopt the NICE guidelines issued in February 2006 and testing for malnutrition should be mandatory in England and Wales as it is in Scotland. These are in line with the requirements called for in the Council of Europe Resolution on Food and Nutritional Care in Hospitals, published in November 2002.
Hospital caterers are dependent upon close co-operation with dietitians and nursing teams to ensure that at risk patients are identified. Under direction from dietitians and nursing staff, caterers are often able to tailor meals and provide foods to meet individual dietary requirements.
Before the surprise decision was made in May of this year to conclude the Better Hospital Food Programme, the HCA had been calling on the Government to instigate a Better Hospital Food Service Programme. The Association believes that the key to achieving greater nutritional intake is by establishing higher levels of food service at ward level.
As responsibility for hospital food has now been returned to individual NHS Trusts, it is imperative that food services do not slip down Board agendas. It is also time for the previous focus on ‘cuisine’ and ‘menus’ to turn towards the issues associated with creating a joined-up delivery and service process. This will increase the opportunity for patients to receive the appropriate meals and assistance to eat where necessary.
The HCA launched its Good Practice Guide for Healthcare Food and Beverage Service Standards in April 2006. The Guide sets out the standards that patients should expect and is a ‘how to’ manual for hospitals to achieve the delivery of improved services at ward level. It is aimed at all those involved in food services including doctors, nurses and dietitians. It points out that food is as integral to patient care as any of their treatment. By adopting the principles of this Guide, all hospitals have at their fingertips the solution to transforming their food and beverage services so that patients improved mealtimes experiences will have a positive effect on their nutritional intake as well as their mental and physical wellbeing.
The Guide won praise and endorsement from a number of high profile organisations including the RCN, the NPSA and the Patients Association. Clare Rayner, President of the Patients Association said: “If all hospitals in Britain ran their food service to their patients according to this Guide, they would be doing more than some of them realise to ensure their patients’ wellbeing’.
The HCA Guide concurs with many of the key points raised by Age Concern in their Report including the adoption as a priority of a Protected Mealtimes policy on all wards. It also states that at risk patients should have access to food outside of the prescribed service times where necessary and all wards should have a nominated Nutritional Link Nurse. All ward staff should be familiar with and aware of the alternative menus available to ensure a patient does not miss a meal. All patients should be given the opportunity to prepare or be prepared for a meal such as by replacing removed dentures and being provided with appropriate feeding aids.
The HCA also believes that the way in which food and beverages are presented at ward level and the attitude of all staff who are involved with serving it, can have a significant influence on the volume of food consumed. There is therefore an urgent need to examine on a wider and more in depth basis how patients receive their food.
To relieve the pressure on nurses, the HCA believes that ward housekeepers or ‘hostesses’ should be more widely deployed to work alongside nursing staff on every ward. The introduction of ward housekeepers was a fundamental target of the Government’s 2000 NHS Plan but not many hospitals have them stationed on all wards. Where ward housekeepers are employed, they greatly assist with monitoring patients’ consumption patterns as well as keeping their dietary progress under observation.
Commenting on Age Concern’s ‘Hungry to be Heard’ Campaign, Sandra Roberts, National Secretary, Hospital Caterers Association says: “We cannot continue to treat malnutrition with apathy. Nor can we continue to make excuses or blame the system. No patient should go hungry whilst in hospital and malnutrition has no place in a modernised National Health Service. We must identify the failings and inconsistencies that exist within current NHS policies, procedures and systems by whichever means possible now, to prevent the incidence of malnutrition spiralling out of control with dire consequences for our elderly vulnerable patients. The HCA measures recommended are not rocket science, they’re just plain common sense. We don’t need any new ideas, we just need to change outdated NHS culture and practice”.
“Only by catalyzing greater cross-team collaboration, communication and co-operation will be in a position to address the issue. However, food is still not being fully recognised by all members of the clinical team as important to patients as their medical care. Normal food has always been and continues to be the cheapest form of medicine and its therapeutic role within the healing process should never be under-estimated. One thing remains sure, the nutritional value of uneaten meals to an elderly patient is absolute zero”.
Download a copy of the Age Concern media statement and Report.