BAPEN News

 

BAPEN Patient Network Development Group

PINNT and BAPEN will be furthering their close working relationship to build upon and improve the support available to patients. In the next few months, the two organisations will co-create a resource which supports patients and carers around what nutritional care they can expect.

A dedicated working group has been set up with representatives from PINNT and BAPEN, and each of BAPEN’s Core Groups will join to contribute multidisciplinary expertise.

The new resource seeks to manage expectations, promote excellent nutritional care, and help patients, carers and healthcare professionals understand the nutrition quality standards in a tangible way. It will be readily available via PINNT and BAPEN’s digital platforms, with the potential for further partner involvement. Carolyn Wheatley, PINNT Chair, commented: “On behalf of PINNT, I am delighted to be working with BAPEN on the development of these new patient resources. I hope these emphasise individual responsibilities and ultimately optimise nutritional care provision – helping the right conversations to happen at the right time in the right place, delivering the right care. I also look forward to engaging with other patient charities who may benefit from these resources, so we can ensure they are reaching all the right people.”

Dr Trevor Smith, BAPEN President, said: “BAPEN is pleased to be supporting and dedicating more resources towards helping patients and carers to be able to make informed decisions and implement effective self-care when it comes to nutrition. I am confident that the process we will be following will enable us to develop a set of comprehensive and informative resources, from the multidisciplinary and collaborative nature of the working group to ‘testing’ the draft resources with patients for initial feedback. It would be fantastic to see these resources enhance nutritional care across the UK, and give patients and carers a louder voice regarding personal care.”

Feedback on this initial co-created resource will be used to inform future working group mechanics and outputs from joint PINNT and BAPEN work.

BAPEN Faculty Update

There is little to report as we are awaiting appointment of new members, which is in progress. However, we do have some sad news in that Professor David Silk, one of our founding leaders, has stepped down from Faculty as of the end of March.

Professor Silk’s contributions to BAPEN and Clinical Nutrition are legendary and profound. Many of BAPEN’s senior members learned their skills under his tutelage as research fellows, including this author. His vision aligned with that of other influential colleagues led to implementation of the Kings Fund report on clinical nutrition in the UK and BAPEN was born in 1992 as a result. He was our second Chair, having taken over from John Lennard-Jones, and laid many of the foundations on which BAPEN now functions. On demitting from the chair, he became a member of the new Faculty which doubled as Trustees for many years. His wisdom and inspiration have been a privilege to experience. We wish him well for the future now as he retires from practice and Faculty. We hope to see him at BAPEN conferences for many years to come.

We also would like to wish Mike Stroud a speedy and full recovery from his recent illness.

Dr Barry Jones
Chair BAPEN Faculty

 

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