This Week is Malnutrition Awareness Week. Dietetic Assistants, Shamila Tufail, Aminah Ziarab, Sienna Kane and Emma Walsh are looking for the best malnutrition awareness board on the wards. Email photographs of your display to shamila.tufail@cht.nhs.uk (for CRH boards) or Aminah.Ziarab@cht.nhs.uk (for HRI boards). The winners will be contacted via email on Friday, 22nd November.

To help people become more aware of malnutrition and how it can affect our patients, the team will also be running information stands at both hospital main entrances from today until Friday.

The focus this year is on the importance of the Red Tray System and accurate MUST Assessments.

A red tray (at HRI) or a burgundy lid (at CRH) is needed to highlight that a patient has a MUST score that is one or above and is therefore at risk of malnutrition.

All patients admitted to hospital need to have a Nutritional Assessment (MUST) completed. If their MUST score is one or more, then their oral intake needs to be accurately recorded on a food chart.

MUST Training is available for all ward colleagues. Please contact Aminah or Shamila to arrange training on CRH extension 4267 or HRI extension 2749.