Encouraging patients to live and eat well (From Redditch Advertiser)

Encouraging patients to live and eat well

3:50pm Sunday 16th September 2012 in Local

 

STAFF from the Alexandra Hospital are backing a national campaign to raise awareness of dementia amongst NHS staff.

Members of the catering department have been working with nurses to develop new ways of making a real difference to patients.

One of the ideas has been to develop a finger-food menu for patients who find eating independently more difficult.

Cath Cox, catering manager, said: “We are constantly striving to improve wherever we can and welcome all comments and feedback from patients.

“We know that no one particularly wants to be in hospital, so we try and make their experience more positive by providing them with freshly cooked, nutritional food.”

One in three people over the age of 65 will develop dementia, and hospital staff have a key role to play in helping those people.

A localised strategy for Living Well with Dementia was published by NHS Worcestershire last year.

One of its key principles of care is to enable people to maintain the maximum possible level of independence, choice and control in their lives.

Genette Edmonds, lead nurse for dementia, said: “The purpose behind this new menu is to ensure that all patients get the appropriate nutritional requirements while in hospital.

“This is easier to achieve by listening and responding to individual patients’ needs.”