26 June 2012
Work To Ensure Patients Are Well Nourished Wins National Award
The nutrition and dietetics service from University Hospitals
Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (UH Bristol) has received an award
from the British Association of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
(BAPEN) for its work to improve nutritional screening in all nine
of its hospitals.
Rachel Cooke, specialist dietitian for food policy, at UH
Bristol received the award on behalf of the food policy team at
BAPEN's annual conference in Liverpool on 18 June. BAPEN is a
charitable association, consisting of professional and patient
organisations, that raises awareness of malnutrition and works to
advance the nutritional care of those in need across hospital and
community settings.
Rachel said: "This is a huge honour and a very welcome
recognition of the work that staff have done in all inpatient wards
across our hospitals to ensure that patients are receiving the
nutrition they need."
Alison Moon, chief nurse at UH Bristol said: "It is essential
for us to ensure that our patients are well nourished and we have
worked very hard to improve nutritional care as we know how
important it is to patients. The work that Rachel and her team have
done with the nurses based on wards throughout our hospitals
is essential as it ensures that we identify those patients who are
at risk of becoming malnourished and gives them the necessary care
and support."
Over the last year the food policy team within the nutrition and
dietetics department has worked with nursing staff to improve
nutritional screening and embed the use of a nutritional screening
assessment for all inpatients.
The food policy team does fortnightly audits to check that all
inpatients have a nutritional screening assessment within 24-hours
of being admitted to hospital. The assessment records information
such as the patient's height, weight, body mass index and
percentage weight loss over the past three to six months and must
be signed and dated by a member of staff. A year ago, 66% of
inpatients had a nutritional screening assessment within 24-hours
of being admitted to hospital. This figure now stands at 88%.
"It is essential that we assess patients so that we can identify
those who are at risk of becoming malnourished and care for them
appropriately. We all understand how vital good nutrition is for
patients and these assessments help us to identify those patients
who need additional support," said Rachel.
The Trust has now begun to audit the use of nutritional care
plans and food charts for patients who are identified as being at
risk of malnutrition. "Identifying those patients who are at risk
of becoming malnourished is extremely important but of course we
also need to ensure that the correct action is taken," said
Rachel.
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