Action 5.27

Food is part of the care that is provided to patients who are admitted to hospital, and should not be considered solely as part of hotel services. Malnutrition adversely affects patient outcomes, and nutrition needs to be considered as an integral part of the comprehensive care plan.

In line with the requirements in Action 5.1, ensure that the health service organisation has evidence-based nutrition policies, procedures and protocols for managing nutritional wellbeing and recovery, and malnutrition that comply with relevant legislation and state or territory requirements.

Patients should be screened for risk of malnutrition and other specific nutritional requirements.

The multidisciplinary team is responsible for implementing a food and nutrition system. To be effective, all members of the workforce involved need to understand their roles and responsibilities, as well as the role of nutrition in clinical care. Identify the clinical and non-clinical members of the workforce who need training for the best operation of the system.

In line with the requirements in Action 5.2, ensure that quality improvement processes are in place to improve the effectiveness and appropriateness of the nutritional systems. This may involve collecting and analysing data on:

• Age, life stage, and cultural and religious background of patients
• Organisational casemix and profile of length of stay
• Nutrition assessments
• Complaints and incidents.

Ensure that processes for planning, preparing and distributing food, fluids and nutritional supplements are timely, safe and appropriate to the setting of care. Ensure that ordering and delivery processes support the right foods and fluids being delivered to the right patient at the right time.

Processes for menu and meal planning should:

• Reflect the nutritional requirements appropriate to the age and life stage of patients receiving care¹
• Reflect the special dietary needs appropriate to the organisation’s casemix^2,3
• Consider psychosocial, cultural and religious needs
• Offer food and fluid choices that are appealing and that patients enjoy
• Consider flexible meal timing and service arrangements
• Be relevant to patients’ length of stay, and to patients who are admitted frequently.

Patients who are not admitted overnight may receive treatment across extended periods, such as in a day surgery unit, day obstetrics unit, renal dialysis unit, radiotherapy or chemotherapy unit, rapid assessment and planning unit, medical assessment and planning unit, short-stay ward, or emergency department. Treatment in such units may be frequent for many weeks or on a continuing basis. Consider referring these patients for nutrition assessment and including nutritional care in the patient’s comprehensive care plan.

Most day procedure services do not admit patients overnight. However, services may care for patients who are at risk of malnutrition or undernutrition, which adversely affect patient outcomes. There may be a need to refer such patients for nutrition assessment and to consider including nutritional care in the patient’s care plan. These services, or those that admit patients overnight (for example, those with 23-hour licences), should refer to the hospitals tab for detailed implementation strategies and examples of evidence for this action.

Food is part of the care that is provided to patients who are admitted to hospital, and should not be considered solely as part of hotel services. Malnutrition adversely affects patient outcomes, and nutrition needs to be considered as an integral part of the comprehensive care plan.

In line with the requirements in Action 5.1, ensure that the health service organisation has evidence-based nutrition policies, procedures and protocols for managing nutritional wellbeing and recovery, and malnutrition that comply with relevant legislation and state or territory requirements.

Patients should be screened for risk of malnutrition and other specific nutritional requirements.

To be effective, all members of the workforce involved in implementing the food and nutrition system need to understand their roles and responsibilities, as well as the role of nutrition in clinical care. Identify the clinical and non-clinical members of the workforce who need training for the best operation of the system.

In line with the requirements in Action 5.2, ensure that quality improvement processes are in place to improve the effectiveness and appropriateness of the nutritional systems. This may involve collecting and analysing data on:

• Age, life stage, and cultural and religious background of patients
• Organisational casemix and profile of length of stay
• Nutrition assessments
• Complaints and incidents.

Ensure that processes for planning, preparing and distributing food, fluids and nutritional supplements are timely, safe and appropriate to the setting of care. Ensure that ordering and delivery processes support the right foods and fluids being delivered to the right patient at the right time.

Processes for menu and meal planning should:

• Reflect the nutritional requirements appropriate to the age and life stage of patients receiving care¹⁶¹
• Reflect the special dietary needs appropriate to the organisation’s casemix^162,163
• Consider psychosocial, cultural and religious needs
• Offer food and fluid choices that are appealing and that patients enjoy
• Consider flexible meal timing and service arrangements
• Be relevant to patients’ length of stay, and to patients who are admitted often.