Patients offered more choice of healthy snacks on wards

It’s Healthy Eating Week (12 to 18 June) and recently we have been increasing the amount of healthy snacks on our mental health inpatient wards in north Essex.

This is in response to feedback from our patients and part of our ongoing work to support them with their physical as well as mental health.

Our dietitians and Facilities Team have reviewed ward catering to provide more healthy options. They recently worked with Brakes catering company to organise tasting sessions on our adult mental health wards.

Facilities manager Julie Allum, said: “The feedback we had from our patients and staff was really positive so I am glad we were able to offer this opportunity and it’s really exciting we have been able to roll out the healthy snacks across our wards in the north.

“We would like to thank the team, our dietitians and Brakes for supporting this event and hope that it benefits our patients to make healthy, tasty choices.”

This is part of ongoing work by our dietitians, occupational therapists and physiotherapists to support patients with their nutrition and well-being.

The Closing the Gap project began with a pilot study in 2018 when senior dieticians researched ways of preventing diabetes in some psychosis patients who had gained weight as a side effect of taking their medication.

The results showed that supporting patients with their nutrition and well-being led to a substantial improvement in their physical health.

Dr Charu Kartik, one of our senior dietitians, has had a research paper on their findings published in the British Dietetic Association’s Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics.

Working with patients to develop individual, high quality, holistic care plans and improving provision of physical healthcare for people with serious mental illness are among our commitments in our five-year Strategic Plan.