Nutrition & Hydration Week – putting wellbeing on the menu

Approximately three million people are at risk of malnutrition in the UK. The treatment of malnutrition involves improving diet and finding the right balance of nutrients. But how this is achieved will depend on the severity of the individual’s condition.

Nutrition and Hydration Week is an annual event which raises awareness of the risks associated with malnutrition and dehydration, and promote good practices to support wellbeing. In the care sector, preventing malnutrition and dehydration is an effective way to reduce the amount of support and treatment residents require on a daily basis. Ultimately, when nutrition and hydration is managed well, less pressure is put on the care team and its resources.

As the public health environment faces tighter budget constraints due to the rising cost of living, it’s becoming more challenging to provide a completely nutritional diet to each person who requires care. Nutrition and Hydration Week is self-announced as one of the most cost-effective health interventions possible to get involved with.

Serving good practice, all year round

There are many positive and inspiring aspects of good practice already taking place in care; methods which aren’t unique or difficult to adopt 52 weeks of the year. A major focus of this week is sharing and learning from each other’s ideas on how to make a difference. The organisers of the event highlight that the wheel does not need to be reinvented to make it work – but sharing, learning and developing existing methods is the most efficient approach.

Resources created by the organisers of Nutrition and Hydration Week and others can be found here.

To help your care business stay on top of nutritional needs, recruiting a volunteer Nutrition Champion is a great way to know that someone is always focused on the subject. Champions are your point of contact for any nutrition-related questions and are dedicated to making positive changes in your organisation through always striving to learn and share knowledge with colleagues.

Download free posters and flyers to recruit your Champion by clicking here.

The MUST have nutrition risk assessment system

One tool designed specifically for care settings that can help prevent malnutrition is MUST (Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool). MUST is widely used across the sector to assess the risk of malnutrition in adults, including in hospitals, care homes and nursing homes. It was originally developed in 2003 by the Malnutrition Advisory Group – a standing committee of BAPEN, and has been reviewed regularly since.

Consisting of five steps, this screening tool identifies adults who are malnourished, at risk of malnutrition or are obese. The system works by looking at three specific and easily obtainable pieces of data; BMI, weight loss and whether there’s any current acute disease effect. By matching the respective data to score cards provided by BAPEN, the total figure will calculate the overall risk of malnutrition. Management guidelines are included, which can be used to develop a care plan and response guidance.

Find out more about MUST by clicking here.

Using CareDocs

CareDocs is a digital care management system, built by care experts for residential and nursing care businesses of all sizes. It’s packed full of person-centred features, like care assessments, care plans, charts and forms. Having person-centred care plans for all aspects of your residents’ daily care, including nutrition, is essential so you can monitor the health of each individual and ensure they are receiving the most effective service.

With the kind permission of BAPEN, we have digitised the MUST tool and integrated it into the Nutrition & Hydration Care Assessment and Care Plan within CareDocs for an efficient digital experience. By doing this, you can naturally calculate a MUST score as you progress through the care assessment process.

The data required to calculate the MUST score is entered into three different areas of the CareDocs system. After completing the Care Assessment, the system will automatically pull all the information together and provide you with a final score in your Care Plan, saving you from manually cross-checking your data with the MUST score cards.

Your care plans will then include the score and supporting information to help you manage your residents’ nutritional health and wellbeing. To quickly analyse all risk scores for the individuals in your care, you can also benefit from instant reports to see all the results in one space. Finally, take advantage of point of care recording capabilities and log daily care notes directly into the system to keep a record of any related events to evidence care or use to improve your service.

To read more about MUST, click here to check out our free downloadable ebook.

To find out more about CareDocs and how we can support the wellbeing of your residents, click here to book a free demo with one of our knowledgeable Business Development Managers. It’s a great opportunity to see the system in action and ask questions.