Malnutrition matters

Malnutrition Matters. Meeting Quality Standards in Nutritional Care. A Toolkit for Commissioners and Providers in England is a new publication from BAPEN.
From the press release: ‘this BAPEN Toolkit is based on world-class commissioning competencies16 and enables commissioners and providers in local authorities, primary care organisations, hospital trusts and foundation hospitals to include best nutritional care when commissioning / redesigning all care services across all health and care settings’.
The full report is available as a PDF, and also a four-page summary, Commissioners’ roles in meeting Quality Standards in Nutritional Care

Seven day consultant-present care

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges published a press release and a report [pdf] on the need for seven day consultant-present care. They set out three principles:
• Hospital inpatients should be reviewed by an on-site consultant at least once every 24 hours, seven days a week, unless it has been determined that this is not necessary for the patient
• Consultant-supervised interventions and investigations along with reports should be provided daily if the results will change the outcome or status of the patient’s overall care before the next ‘normal’ working day. This should include interventions which will enable immediate discharge or a shortened length of stay
• Support services both in hospitals and in the primary care community setting should be available daily to ensure that the next steps in the patient’s treatment, as determined by the daily consultant review, can be taken. It also acknowledges that it is outside its scope to look in detail at community services.

Local commissioning information packs

The NHS Commissiong Board has produced information packs for each local authority and CCG area in England.The Local Authority packs present high level comparative information on the NHS, the Adult Social Care and the Public Health Frameworks. The CCG level packs provide a more detailed analysis of NHS outcomes and other relevant indicators. They offer, the Board says, a ‘quick and easy-to-use summary of [the] current position on outcomes’