Health written question – answered at on 6 September 2011.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to provide nutritional screening for vulnerable patients on admission to hospital and in care settings.
National health service organisations and local authorities are responsible for nutrition screening policies. There are a number of initiatives in place to help organisations develop their policies. These include the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance on malnutrition which recommends that all hospital in-patients be weighed, measured and have their Body Mass Index calculated on admission to hospital. Additionally, the “Essence of Care” benchmarking system includes a benchmark on “food and drink” which illustrates the good practice of screening and assessment of patients on initial contact with a health professional in health and social care settings. This is reinforced within the Council of Europe resolution on food and nutritional care in hospital recommending the screening of all patients on admission to hospital.
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