Undernutrition ServiceAn award winning digital care pathway for patients at risk of undernutrition

the challenge

The NHS Health Call Undernutrition pathway was developed with County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.

Undernutrition costs the NHS in excess of £19 billion per year in England.

30 per cent of adults on admission to hospital are at risk of undernutrition and 35 per cent of residents admitted to care are also at risk. The remote solution enables health care professionals to monitor a patient’s weight, appetite and compliance with prescribed oral nutritional supplements.

It reduces the need for home visits and routine outpatient appointments, whilst supporting the patient and their carer to be involved in their own health.

Resources

Download the Health Call undernutrition service brochure and get more understanding around how our undernutrition pathway can work for you.

Leaflet – Undernutrition Service

Patient leaflet – Undernutrition Service

Patient leaflet – Care homes: Undernutrition Service

Presentation – Patient Safety Awards: Undernutrition

how the undernutrition service works

Our award-winning Health Call undernutrition programme aims to improve the well-being of patients who are at risk of undernutrition or who are already undernourished.

Our simple-to-use technology enables healthcare professionals to monitor a patient’s weight, appetite and compliance with prescribed oral nutritional supplements. It reduces the need for home visits and routine outpatient appointments whilst supporting the patient and their carer to be more involved in their own nutritional health.

The patient can be contacted through a landline or mobile where they’ll be asked questions around their current eating habits and to record their weight. The service uses simple-to-use technology so it can be used by everyone.

Our technology assesses the patient’s behaviour and BMI and if readings are outside of the pre-determined parameters, a healthcare professional is alerted and contact is made with the patient to make changes to their diet.

Through our digital technology we’ve been able to help practices and care homes manage undernutrition at scale. Identifying those that need treatment early on and managing patients throughout their journey has resulted in improved patient well-being, whilst increasing capacity and providing cost savings for services.

The undernutrition service is in place in over 80 care homes across the North East, providing vital support to care home workers and the local dietetics teams. Using a secure web portal, the resident’s weight, appetite levels and how they’re managing with their supplements are recorded onto the portal and the data is sent to the nutrition and dietetics team, where the results are assessed.

product features

• Patients are enrolled on the system by their healthcare provider.
• Interoperates with the existing clinical system.
• Sends prompts and reminders to the patient for them complete their questionnaire.
• Enables personalisation of parameters – suited to that patient.

benefits of the undernutrition service

• Patient readings are directly input into GP patient records meaning that healthcare professionals have access to real-time patient data. Accurate data means better decisions can be made around every patient.
• It supports patients to understand and manage their own nutritional health with many reporting feeling better cared for and supported.
• Regular monitoring of patients means healthcare professionals can respond to a patient’s progress in a timely manner leading to a reduction in ineffective or inappropriate prescribing of oral nutritional supplements.
• Reducing the need for routine patient visits relieves pressures on healthcare professionals and means resource can be distributed more effectively.

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