InTouch Newsletter
Intouch

Committee, Council & SIG Updates

 

The Nutrition Society

Dr Caroline Childs, BAPEN Council Member
Associate Professor, University of Southampton
The Nutrition Society Clinical/Medical Advisory Council member

Email: office@nutritionsociety.org
Website: www.nutritionsociety.org
X: @Nutritionsoc
Instagram: the_nutrition_society
LinkedIn: /nutrition-society

Happy New Year readers! I hope you all had a restful festive break after a busy 2024.

I had a fantastic time at the BAPEN Annual Conference last November in Gateshead; I would like to congratulate the organisers on a wonderful event. It was a pleasure to meet so many BAPEN members in person and to see such high-quality talks and posters. I particularly enjoyed seeing the infographics produced by the live scriber to summarise sessions. It was also a pleasure to chair the Nutrition Society symposium on ‘Nutrition and the Brain’ – and to see such high attendance at these talks. My thanks go to the four excellent speakers, Dr Bethany Duffy, Professor Kieran Tuohy, Professor Anne Marie Minihane, and Dr Andrea Fairley. If you missed this session, the presentations have been made available via the BAPEN website.

The Society’s Medical Working Group (MWG) remains committed to supporting medical and healthcare professionals in engaging in evidence-based nutrition research and training. This will of course carry on into 2025, as I continue to engage with the needs of the BAPEN community through my role on BAPEN Council. Within the Nutrition Society I work closely with the MWG chair, Dr Hannah O’Hara, Clinical Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast and Dr Oonagh Markey, Theme Lead for Nutrition in the treatment, management and prevention of disease. I will keep you updated through InTouch as new initiatives and activities are planned.

BAPEN members are always very welcome at Nutrition Society’s events. Full details of the latest Conferences and member led meetings can be viewed here: www.nutritionsociety.org/conferences/conferences.

Here are some upcoming Nutrition Society Conferences taking place across the UK and Ireland this year which may be of interest to you:

  • Undernutrition in later life: Current understanding and advances, 1-2 April 2025, University of Dundee, Scotland
  • Irish Section Conference – Promoting optimal nutrition for people and planet, 11-13 June 2024, Technological University Dublin
  • Nutrition Society Conference 2025, 1-2 July, Burleigh Court, Loughborough.

Papers from all Nutrition Society Conferences are published in the Proceedings of the Nutrition Society so watch that space for the research emerging from our Conferences if you are not able to attend.

Lastly, as a new year begins you may be thinking about your professional development, I want to remind you about The Nutrition Society Academy which continues to be an excellent resource with over 90 scientific and skills-based webinars available from £4.99 per month. With new webinars being added weekly, the Academy aims to upskill Nutrition and Healthcare Professionals by providing regular, evidence-based webinars, workshops and courses to develop nutrition science knowledge and enhance professional skills. Explore the platform here: https://nutritionsociety.academy.

All my very best,

Caroline

 

 

Malnutrition Action Group (MAG)

A Standing Committee of BAPEN

Dr Emily Walters, Malnutrition Officer and MAG Chair

Email: malnutrition@bapen.org.uk
Website: www.bapen.org.uk/groups/bapen-committees-and-groups/malnutrition-action-group/

New Year New MAG Workplan

The Malnutrition Action Group (MAG) have started the new year excited to begin their 2025 workplan. We thought you might like to know a bit about what we are up to!

1. Development of a BAPEN data repository
Dr Shameer Mehta, MAG’s BAPEN Medical representative, is leading a subgroup to develop a BAPEN data repository. This supports the BAPEN strategic objective of ‘Knowledge’. A data repository enables all data collected through BAPEN badged surveys, audits and research to be saved safely and centrally.

Key benefits for BAPEN and its members are:

  • Support for development of bigger data sets to help us better understand malnutrition prevalence and identification, and interventions to manage this
  • Providing clarity around what data is being collected by the Charity, reducing duplication of data collection and encouraging more collaboration
  • Demonstration of good data governance including compliance with GDPR.

2. Improve accessibility of resources to support malnutrition
Accessibility of knowledge and information about identification and management of malnutrition is central to improving nutritional care. However, some minority or hard-to-reach groups may find it difficult to access such information with resources often not relevant to the groups situation or cultural dietary preferences. MAG are taking steps to improve this by reviewing BAPEN’s existing work and improving accessibility of information and resources. This workstream supports the Charity’s strategic aim of ‘Reach’. Ellie Coles, one of MAG’s PENG representatives, and Emily Walters, Chair of MAG, are leading on this workstream.

Key benefits for BAPEN and its members are:

  • Provision of resources and information which is more accessible and inclusive.

3. Improve understanding of current practice and use of enteral tube feeding
BAPEN often receives requests for ‘big data’ about enteral feeding across the 4 nations in different care settings. However, this can be challenging to collect and is reliant on voluntary contribution of data. Following on from last year’s survey, MAG plans to collect data through point prevalence surveys focused on specific groups. Leslie Freeman, our MAG HEN dietitian is leading this work which contributes to BAPEN’s strategic aim of ‘Knowledge.’

Key benefits for BAPEN and its members are:

  • Better description of enteral tube feeding in adults and children in different care settings across all 4 nations
  • Opportunities for benchmarking
  • Over time the changes in practice, patient demographics and numbers can be provided.

Note: 2024 HEN Survey presented at BAPEN Conference 2024, poster A001: www.bapen.org.uk/conference/2024-conference-poster-flip-book/

We need your help!

We really want to hear BAPEN member thoughts on MAG’s work.

  • What data should we be collecting:
    • About enteral feeding in any care setting, adults or children?
    • About malnutrition, its identification or management in any care setting or age group?
  • Do you have resources or information to support minority or hard-to-reach groups in identifying and managing malnutrition or malnutrition risk? Could we share these through the BAPEN website?
  • Do you have specific interest or experience working with a particular group? Could you volunteer to help MAG develop one of the surveys or a resource for a hard-to-reach or minority group?

We would very much value your expertise, thoughts and ideas. It’s easy share these – just contact us on malnutrition@bapen.org.uk. The MAG committee look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you!

Dr Emily Walters

 

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