Thursday 2 February 2012

Spotlight on food and drink for older patients

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) has been showcasing its work to improve the way older patients eat and drink on wards.

Protected mealtimes, colour-coded trays, volunteers and a separate dining room are just some of the initiatives that were shown to Dr Shelia Marriott, East Midlands Regional Director for the Royal College of Nursing.

Dr Marriott visited Ward F20 at Queen’s Medical Centre on Monday 30 January to learn more about NUH’s work on nutrition and hydration.

The Trust’s recently launched Mealtimes Matter programme gives protected times for patients to eat their meals without distractions.
During these times all non-essential activities on the wards stop, preventing unnecessary interruptions at mealtimes. Nurses, catering staff and volunteers are then on hand to help serve the food and give assistance to patients who need extra support.

Ward F20 has also introduced a patients’ dining room so that patients do not have to eat at their bedside. The room also gives patients the opportunity to socialise and nursing staff the chance to assess patients’ recovery and needs.

In addition, the Trust uses colour-coded food trays and F20 has introduced coloured lids on water jugs to help identify patients’ needs. Red trays/lids indentify patients who need assistance, white lids symbolise that patients may need a thickener with their fluid or restricted intake and green lids/trays are for patients that do not need supervision.

Dr Marriott said: “I was delighted to see such commitment to tackling the issues of patient nutrition and hydration. It is one of the basic tenets of good patient care which can sometimes be overlooked, and the determination and engagement from all the staff on the ward is admirable.

“The creation of the dining room on F20 has shown that, with imagination and determination, you can create somewhere where people actually want to sit down and eat and that doesn’t feel like a hospital ward.

“It must make an impact on the general wellbeing of the patients on the ward, as well as improving their food intake, while the focus on nutrition and hydration being everybody’s business rather than the responsibility of one particular profession is incredibly refreshing.

“It’s also pleasing to see the efforts being made to address patient nutrition and hydration across the Trust as a whole. ‘Mealtimes Matter’ is a simple concept, but one that is needed to emphasise the importance of eating and drinking, and the impact of what can happen if staff don’t ensure patients are fed and hydrated.”

Julie Benson, Matron for Healthcare of Older People at NUH, said: “We wanted to improve the nutrition and hydration of patients on the ward. One of the ways we decided we could help improve the nutrition of patients was to provide a dining area so that people could sit at a table, socialise and enjoy the dining experience. The other was to improve the hydration of patients. The Trust has used coloured trays system for some time but the lid system was a new idea introduced by Ward Sister Karen Holmes.

“Many of the things that have been implemented are small, but together they have made a big impact and patients and their relatives have been very positive about the changes.

“The visit by Dr Marriott was a good opportunity to showcase the positive work around nutrition and hydration at the Trust and the promotion of healthcare of older people.”

ENDS