Nutrition and hydration publication statement 16 March 2017

Date of publication:

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published three reports on nutrition and hydration care in public acute hospitals. HIQA monitors against the National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare to review nutrition and hydration care of patients in Irish hospitals.

HIQA inspections monitor hospitals to ensure that they have effective systems in place to identify and manage patients who are at risk of malnutrition and dehydration. The reports published today relate to inspections in Louth County Hospital, Dundalk, Co Louth, Mayo University Hospital and Mercy University Hospital, Cork.

An unannounced inspection of nutrition and hydration was carried out in Louth County Hospital on 6 December 2016. Inspectors found the hospital had a Nutrition Services Group in place that had implemented a number of quality improvement initiatives in relation to good nutrition and hydration care. All patients who spoke with inspectors were satisfied with the quality of food and drinks that they received while in hospital.

Patients were being routinely screened for their risk of malnutrition on admission to the hospital, in line with best practice. The hospital must continue to develop an audit programme for nutrition and hydration care, including auditing compliance with screening all patients for the risk of malnutrition, development of policies relevant to nutrition and hydration care and auditing the nutrient content and portion sizes of hospital meals.

An unannounced inspection in Mayo University Hospital on the 18 January 2016 found that a number of quality improvement initiatives relating to nutrition and hydration had been implemented in the hospital. Most patients who spoke with inspectors were satisfied and complimentary about the quality of food they received.

Inspectors found that the hospital was routinely screening patients for the risk of malnutrition. However, audits conducted by the hospital indicated poor compliance with this screening programme. The hospital must focus on improving compliance with screening and rescreening patients for their risk of malnutrition in line with national guidelines.

Nutrition and hydration care in Mercy University Hospital, Cork was inspected by HIQA on 25 January 2017. Inspectors found that the hospital had an established Nutritional Care Committee in place that played a key role in raising the importance of the provision of good nutrition and hydration care across the hospital. All patients were offered a choice of meals and inspectors observed that patients who required assistance with their meals were offered assistance in a prompt manner.

The hospital began screening patients for the risk of malnutrition in October 2016. Inspectors reviewed a small sample of patient healthcare records on the day of inspection and found that that the hospital was not screening patients for the risk of malnutrition and that weekly re-screening was not carried out. The practice of screening and re-screening all patients for their risk of malnutrition, in line with national guidelines, should be a key area of focus for improvement by the hospital following this inspection.