National Nutrition and Hydration Week, 16-20 March 2015. House-bound patients visited by CSH Surrey’s nursing and therapy teams are benefiting from improved awareness of the importance of eating and drinking well thanks to the work of Community Dietitian, Hayley Fowler..
To mark National Nutrition and Hydration Week, Hayley has been working with district nurses and community matrons across mid-Surrey to think about why good nutrition is important for patients.
Together with Hayley, the community teams have created a poster, which is being displayed at their team bases.
More than three million people in the UK are at risk of malnutrition. People who are malnourished are at high risk of a number of serious health problems, as well as needing more GP visits, more hospital admissions and longer hospital stays (British Dietetic Association, 2012).
Hayley Fowler, Dietitian with the Community Integrated Teams, says: “Nutrition is important in all aspects of healthcare including weight management, diabetes and mental health conditions. Improving the nutrition and hydration of patients is vital to provide high quality health care and help prevent unnecessary hospital admissions, GP visits and longer hospital stays.”
This week also sees the launch of training on a malnutrition screening tool for CSH Surrey’s Community Integrated Teams, which will help them to identify malnutrition so it can be effectively treated.
For more information about Nutrition and Hydration Week 2015, visit www.nutritionandhydrationweek.co.uk and for more information on malnutrition visit the Mind the Hunger website at www.mindthehungergap.com.