Information for care homes
West Suffolk community dietitians have provided information for care homes to help recognise and treat residents at risk of malnutrition, using the malnutrition universal screening tool (MUST).
From September 2016 the West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group do not support the prescribing of oral nutritional supplements for residents in care homes unless one of the exclusion criteria listed on the care home policy applies.
Referral policy and information:
Safe nutrition and hydration training
Please note all training is on hold until November 2023. To register your interest please contact the community dietitians on 01284 713668 or email communitydietitians@wsh.nhs.uk.
Our dietitians and speech and language therapists have teamed together to deliver a training package to support with the management of safe nutrition and hydration in care homes in West Suffolk.
The training package includes sections on the identification and management of those at risk of malnutrition or with swallowing difficulties in line with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Regulation 14: “Meeting nutritional and hydration needs”.
It also covers other CQC and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance, local action plans and referral policies. The e-learning is designed for the whole team to ensure nutrition and dysphagia support is effective.
Certificates will be issued on completion of each module and can be used as evidence towards meeting expected CQC standards.
The Safe Nutrition and Hydration training is split into four modules:
- MUST and Nutrition Support
- Dysphagia and IDDSI
- Mealtime Dilemmas and Feeding Considerations
- Mouth Care
The training can be delivered face to face at your care home, via live webinars, or through an interactive e-learning package.
Diet sheets and recipes:
Helpful videos:
Speech and language therapy team:
Contact the team
West Suffolk community dietetic team
Telephone: 01284 713668
Email: communitydietitians@wsh.nhs.uk