President's Message
Dr Trevor Smith, BAPEN President
It is hard to believe we are nearing the end of October and fast approaching Christmas - 2021 is flying by. Of course, as we enter the winter period, we will face increased demand for services with the onset of cold weather and flu combined with our ongoing management of COVID-19. I would like to thank you all once again for your resilience in powering through the challenges we have faced this year.
I am pleased to update you on a rather busy period for BAPEN, including some upcoming plans that I hope many of you will get involved in.
UK Malnutrition Awareness Week 2021
A few weeks ago, was a particularly important week in our calendar – UKMAW – and I am delighted to be able to reflect on its success. I am thrilled with the amount of support and momentum that was generated during the campaign, and I would like to thank those that got involved for their efforts. In particular, I would like to give a special thanks to our partners at the Malnutrition Task Force for another brilliant year of collaboration!
Each year, we hope to raise awareness, spark conversations, and further understanding of the realities of malnutrition and dehydration. This year, our messaging focused on the importance of everybody’s involvement in the fight against malnutrition. We asked people to ‘Ask, Look and Listen’ to encourage everybody to keep nutritional care on their radar. While the awareness week provides a focus and a platform, I always hope that the impact of what we say during that week continues to resonate throughout the rest of the year.
As in previous years, a huge focus of UKMAW for BAPEN is the National Screening Survey. I want to say a huge thank you to all those who have contributed to the survey thus far, and remind everyone that you have until the end of October to do so! The survey is hugely important for us to take stock of the on-the-ground extent of malnutrition risk, and the deployment of nutritional care across the UK. This is now our third year of running the screening survey in October and we hope it is becoming a fixture that more and more people will engage with over time.
Malnutrition Action Group (MAG) Screening Survey Report 2020
While the 2021 survey is currently still running, the report from the 2020 screening survey has recently been published. I want to acknowledge the hard work of our standing committee, the Malnutrition Action Group (MAG), for all their work towards this.
The report provides a detailed analysis of factors affecting nutritional care and gives insights into risk by age, setting and disease state. I think it is marvellous that we have a report that looks both at malnutrition risk and nutrition support delivery, and covers different settings, as well as reporting from different regions across the UK. I highly recommend, if you haven’t already, that you put some time aside to read it and share it with colleagues. The survey findings, which included data from 1,183 adults, are available to read here, as well as a comment from Dr Rebecca Stratton, Chair of MAG.
BAPEN Conference 2021
Many of you will have seen the news that we have taken the difficult decision to postpone our 2021 Annual Conference for another year until November 2022. This is incredibly disappointing for us all, but a decision we felt necessary given the significant uncertainty about the COVID-19 situation in the forthcoming months and the pressure everybody will be under as we approach year end. We are conscious of our responsibility to ensure safety, and we are aware that many of you may also have difficulty booking study leave.
We will be hosting a series of virtual events - as we did last year - it is of course frustrating not to be able to get together in person. However, the virtual conference will no doubt still provide many excellent opportunities to learn and be inspired!
The BAPEN Programmes Committee has been working hard putting together a fantastic programme, with webinars covering a range of topics we hope you will find both relevant and interesting. These include a case-based approach to feeding difficulties and dilemmas, IBD and nutrition, drugs and nutrition support and more. I urge you to register and tune in to the webinars, which will be live streamed each day at 4.00-5.30pm and 6.30-8.00pm on Monday 29, November to Thursday 2, December. We are hoping these timings will fit suitably around your working day and commitments.
Keep your eyes peeled for the full programme and registration details, which will be available on the BAPEN website and please do make a point of joining us for the virtual opening ceremony on Monday 29, November. This is an opportunity to hear about BAPEN’s activities and achievements over the last twelve months, along with the presentation of the prestigious BAPEN Awards and Recognitions.
I hope that as many of you as possible will join us online and I look forward to seeing you virtually for the second year running, trusting that it will be in person again in the not-too-distant future.
BAPEN Shadow Treasurer position opening
I would also like to draw your attention to an exciting opening we have within the BAPEN team. We are looking to appoint a Shadow Treasurer in November 2021. This is a key leadership role within the charity and provides the opportunity to participate in key operational and strategic decision making within the charity. If you are interested, you have until 29 October to apply and you can find out more here. If you would like to gain a bit more of an understanding of what the role might involve, have a read of an interview my colleague Dr Chris Mountford, BAPEN’s current Treasurer here.
Our COVID-19 resources and guidelines remain available on our website, and I would urge you to consult them as needed through this winter. It remains our priority to help you all navigate these difficult times.
Best wishes to you all and stay safe,
Trevor
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