Highlighting the value of food and drink in maintaining health and wellbeing

Medical Matters: Liz Wardle, head of nutrition and dietetic services at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, talks about the importance of better nutrition, the role of dietitians in healthcare and activities that took place during Nutrition and Hydration Week

Good nutrition is a crucial part of everyone’s health and wellbeing. Better nutrition can result in stronger immune systems, lower our risk of conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and increase longevity.

Research also shows that staying hydrated and healthy has positive and lasting impacts on our wellbeing.

Malnutrition is a lack of nutrition, and can be caused by not eating enough or not enough of the right things. We don’t often think about this as an issue in our society, but it can affect us all.

There are multiple forms, including undernutrition, not getting the vitamins or minerals that we need, being overweight and being more at risk from associated conditions.

The most important thing that we all can do to make sure we are maintaining high levels of good nutrition is to eat a healthy balanced diet. By eating a wide variety of food and consuming the right amount of food and drink, we can maintain a healthy body weight and reduce the risks of conditions like diabetes.

In Torbay and South Devon, our nutrition and dietetic services provide a wide range of support for people in a range of different environments. Dietitians are experts in nutrition and translate the science of nutrition into everyday information about food, and advise people on their food and nutrition choices.

Dietitians support people of all ages, including those who:

• have digestive problems
• need to put on weight after an illness
• are managing a long-term condition such as diabetes
• have an eating disorder
• want to lose weight
• have allergies.

All dietitians are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the British Dietetic Association (BDA) with a recognised graduate qualification in nutrition and dietetics.

As a team, we aim to raise awareness of the importance of nutrition and apply evidence-based dietetic practice in health promotion, disease prevention and treatment of acute and chronic medical conditions.

We provide independent nutrition and dietetic advice and education for the people our organisation cares for, carers and all healthcare professionals.

Dietitians provide a service to individually referred patients which includes assisting in diagnosis, nutritional assessment, nutrition intervention and treatment options.

We provide services to people currently in hospital as well as those out in the community. In hospital, our teams see people who need support with their nutritional intake. We also have specialists who cover dedicated services, including gastroenterology, intensive care, paediatrics, cancer, diabetes and weight management.

Our community clinical team provides advice and training to support health and social care professionals in the management of individuals at home who require more specialist assessment and advice. In addition, our team supports people at home with a feeding tube. We also provide an outpatient service for people who require specialist dietetic input.

In March, we marked the annual Nutrition and Hydration Week, and this year’s theme is to ‘reinforce, focus and energise’. The week brings people together to create energy, focus and fun in order to highlight and educate people on the value of food and drink in maintaining health and wellbeing in health and social care.

This year, many of our wards celebrated with ‘Tea Party Tuesday’ for patients and staff.

It is really important to our teams that we highlight the importance of good nutrition and hydration across all of our services and departments, to ensure we are doing everything possible to support the people we care for and our local communities.

This year, our teams were present across hospital sites speaking to members of the public to highlight the many benefits that maintaining good nutrition and hydration brings.

If you would like to find out more about the week and read about some of the key messages and resources provided, visit www.nutritionandhydrationweek.co.uk