Malnutrition


National Association of Care Catering No One Should Go Hungry


Campaign Objective The No One Should Go Hungry campaign was developed by the National Association of Care Catering (NACC) following the BAPEN figures reporting malnutrition related illnesses in the UK cost the health services £13.6 billion a year. The campaign’s simple none ambiguous message is clear for all. The aim of the campaign was to raise awareness of the problem, and show how good nutrition has a place in any social or health care setting.


Malnutrition in older people, its cost to the person’s quality of life, the subsequent burden on health and social care service is often dismissed as attention is focused on obesity in younger adults. It was our aim throughout this campaign to raise the awareness of the levels of malnutrition hidden in our communities and ignored by the media, and decision makers. It is still an on going campaign and any support, no matter how small, is always appreciated by all affected by this.


A snap shot of the first six months of our campaigning is briefly outlined below.


Key promotional activities September 2010


• 10 Key Characteristics for Good Nutritional Care launched at the NACC Conference


October 2010


• NACC single nutritional standard for the care sector launched at the start of national Community Meals Week


November 2010


• Keeping Well in Winter information booklet released


• Malnutrition – Silent Killer media release December 2010


• Knock on your Neighbour – awareness campaign urging people to check on their elderly neighbours


January 2011


• Spotting the Signs of Malnutrition and Dehydration factsheet published


March 2011


• Dehydration in Older People Awareness Week 6th -12th June launched (see the What’s New section for more information)


• During March we worked closely with BAPEN to ensure that when the National Screening Week figures were released they could be related to case studies in a community setting.


How successful was the campaign?


In the first four months of the campaign the editorial value was estimated to be around £250,575 for the 58 pieces of coverage identified,


National Council of Women


VALERIE ALASIA Chairman of the Health Committee, National Council of Women Malnutrition in Hospitals


Our Leicester Branch drew attention to this subject and, after research in the British Library, this led to the National Council of Women’s Health Committee proposing a Resolution at our national Conference last October, calling upon the Department of Health to require all hospitals to check patients' weight on admission and to monitor it throughout their stay, using the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (‘MUST’); this should be mandatory in England as it is in Scotland. Thus, malnutrition could be identified and supervised; and then appropriate nutrition and hydration addressed.


Unanimous approval was given to this Resolution, which was then circulated to 20 interested organisations. An encouraging reply was received from the Minister of State for Health, Simon Burns MP and also from the British Dietetic Association. The BDA chief officers attended our last Health Committee meeting and we agreed to co- operate, together with the Royal College of Nursing and others, in membership of an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Nutrition and Hydration (established by BAPEN). We recognise that malnutrition is a key theme currently, along with the importance of screening


and the need to put pressure on the Department of Health to tackle the concerns surrounding malnutrition, which has been calculated to cost £13 billion a year. Many people in hospital need help with eating so protected mealtimes should be mandatory. We support BAPEN's view that safe nutritional care saves lives, improves outcomes and saves money.


Meanwhile, some of our Branches are following up this subject locally. For instance, in Oxfordshire, LINk is investigating both the quality of food and accessibility of feeding for patients in the four major hospitals. In Darlington and


County Durham a revolutionary nutrition programme piloted in the North East has been hailed a success in fighting malnutrition in elderly people. 'Focus on Undernutrition’, developed by the dietetics service of County Durham & Darlington Community Health Services is now being offered to other UK health providers. Three thousand staff in the community have been trained, resulting in thousands of vulnerable people maintaining or gaining weight. NCW Branches will be following this up.


For further information on the work of the National Council of Women, visit: www.ncwgb.org


BAPEN In Touch No.61 May 2011 6


and with over 22 million opportunities to see the campaign. There were the hard tangible facts, the unmeasureable ones were the effect it has on vulnerable peoples lives. By improving nutritional care the quality of life improves for that person. For the tax payer there could be huge cost benefits involved; if just ten people are maintained in their own home for one year the saving to the social care budget is over £345,000. If two hospital stays per night are prevented then a further £219,00 is saved.


It is only in time that we will know the real benefits but for everyone we raise the issues with, the benefit becomes real in terms of good health for that person and those who rely on their care.


These relatively small changes could result in a potential campaign value of £814,000 for the small investment of £10,000.


The ongoing campaign and further details can be found on the NACC website www.thenacc.co.uk


If you have any specific queries please contact the NACC National Chair Derek Johnson at chair@thenacc.co.uk


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