At the end of 2018 the Care Inspectorate formally launched the newest component to “The Hub” space. After two years of hard work, widespread consultation and involvement from many sectors, the food, fluid and nutrition site was born – www.careinspectorate.com
It had started out in early 2016 as a piece of work that I was trying to deliver for care staff across The Highlands- updating a nutrition and hydration resource folder. I heard that colleagues in Northern Ireland had developed something similar for their social care staff and I was delighted when they gave me permission to “tartanise” it using references pertinent to Scotland.
Following discussion with Jackie Dennis, health improvement officer at the Care Inspectorate, we decided to try and develop something which could support all care staff in Scotland from a central resource point to their website. The idea was welcomed by members of the Scottish Dietetic Leadership network (SDLN) and the Scottish Care Home Dietitians’ group. Jackie set up a steering group to include a wider group of staff from the care sector and took further advice from a wide range of other organisations including The Soil Association, the Royal college of speech and language therapists and the vegetarian society.
Ideas for useful links and learning resources were all reviewed and considered before deciding on the final format for the site. It is designed to allow for continuous updates or additions and allows for dietitians and others to share good examples of food, fluid and nutritional care in their board areas e.g. Highland’s “Nutrition News” which is produced quarterly for social care staff (and anyone else who wants to read it): https://www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk/Publications/Documents/Newsletters/nutrition%20news%20spring%202019.pdf
There are Youtube clips from a range of contributors, including chefs from Meallmore care group, Scottish care and a dietitian that you might recognise…..it was my film debut and I wouldn’t have even considered it had I not been encouraged to face me fear of using new technology, when I joined cohort 3 of the #dNMAHP leadership programme a few years ago: so thanks to NES and to Ann Rae, in particular for all your encouragement.
I encourage all my NMAHP and social care colleagues to use the Care Inspectorate Hub site when they’re looking for points of reference, links or reliable, factual information to support care planning and staff development. I hope that readers of this blog will take the opportunity to review the food fluid and nutrition hub, to download the resource handbook and to share more widely in their areas of work. Good nutrition and hydration are critical, basic elements of care and enable people to live well, stay safe and keep active. The food and fluid site links well to other elements of the Care Inspectorate hub, including the highly successful CAPA (care about physical activity) and improving continence for people with dementia and other long-term conditions.
Written by:
Evelyn Newman, NHS Highland Nutrition and Dietetics Advisor: Care Homes
Twitter: @evelynnewman17
E-mail: Evelyn.newman@nhs.net
AHPs across health and social care. 