SEPT Celebrates Success with Food First

South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust’s (SEPT) is celebrating the Bedfordshire Food First team winning for an abstract on malnutrition entitled ‘Nutritional outcomes of care home residents 6 months after Food First advice’ at the British Dietetic Association Research Symposium on 4 December.

Cathy Forbes – Advanced Specialist Dietitian and Food First lead said:

“We were pleased to have 5 separate abstracts accepted for verbal presentation at the Symposium and thrilled that we were chosen as overall winner for our abstract on ‘Nutritional outcomes of care home residents 6 months after Food First advice’.”

All abstracts will be published in the journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics in March 2014.

Pictured - Cathy Forbes and Vittoria Romano – Food First Team, SEPT Community Health Services Bedfordshire

ENDS

More Information on Food First

Food First take a proactive approach to improve the identification and management of malnutrition and dehydration in the elderly. Malnutrition affects over 3 million people in the UK and can be prevented without the need for medication.

Using a high calorie diet short-term can reduce weight loss and promote weight gain and maintenance, empowering people to self-manage their own weight. Increasing your calorie intake by 500 calories a day will help you gain up to 0.5kg (1lb) per week.

The Food First project is working to prevent malnutrition and dehydration in Bedfordshire by:
• working with GPs and healthcare professionals to recognise those at risk of malnutrition and dehydration and provide them with the resources to help them manage this risk.
• providing support and information to individuals living in the community and their families.
• working with staff and managers of care homes, as well as carers who visit people in their own homes, to identify those at risk of malnutrition and/or dehydration and take action early using the Food First resources.