Nutrition and Hydration Week 2018
12th – 18th March
An opportunity to show how you are making a difference
With Nutrition and Hydration Week 2018 only a few weeks away, it’s not too late to think about how you could use the Week to raise awareness of the importance of nutrition and hydration in your organisation. There is some amazing care happening every day and Nutrition and Hydration Week really is an opportunity to shine a light on examples of good practice and to share some really creative,
innovative ideas.
This is exactly what has been happening as part of the NHS Improvement Nursing Directorates nutrition collaborative, which was launched in November 2017, with 25 NHS provider organisations from across London, the Midlands and East and the North of England.
The key aims of this collaborative are to improve the accuracy of nutritional screening and appropriateness of any subsequent nutritional interventions using the Model of Improvement and Quality Improvement tools and techniques. Many of the collaborative organisations are focusing on these aims but it is also great to see some of the collaborative project teams focusing their improvement projects on very specific areas, including dysphagia, oral hygiene and hydration. In addition, there are some organisations looking to take forward system wide improvements. All the organisations involved have been invited to get involved in Nutrition and Hydration Week 2018 as a way of raising awareness and celebrating the successes of their improvement projects locally.
Another objective of the collaborative is to highlight other programmes of work that the NHS Improvement Nursing Directorate is involved with that link into areas of nutrition and hydration. At the collaborative event in January, the recently published nutrition and pressure ulcers resources (https://improvement.nhs.uk/resources/nutrition-and-hydration/) were shared.
So, onto Nutrition and Hydration Week…
Nutrition and Hydration Week just keeps going from strength to strength, with over 40 countries regularly engaged with the Week in the form of emails, newsletters and social media – we really have built a community of interest.
In recognition that providing good nutritional care should not, and does not, only happen for one week a year, we have added four themed focus days to the Nutrition and Hydration Week calendar. We have also had the amazing opportunity to join, free of charge, our colleagues from the Canadian Society of Nutrition Management in their series of on-line webinars providing access to learning that can contribute to our continuing professional development.
As Nutrition and Hydration Week 2018 draws nearer we are starting to hear from colleagues from around the world about their plans. One great example comes from Bentley House in Hertford, who have organised events and activities for everyday during the Week, including a ‘Cockney Quiz – Rhyming Slang’ followed by a Cockney meal of pie, mash and jellied eels...
The Nutriton and Dietetics Department at St Andrew`s Healthcare will be promoting Nutrition and Hydration Week across four sites in Northamption, Birmingham, Essex and Nottingham – this will be the fifth year that they have supported the Week.
As you will be aware the mission of the Week is very much around promting nutrition and hydration as a wider part of health and wellbeing, so it is brilliant to see that colleagues from Merseyrail will be using the Week to share key messages around hydration with their staff. The Marriott Hotel and Country Clubs are using the Week to enhance the wellbeing of their employees too.
These are just some examples from the seventy plus hospitals, care homes, schools, hospices and organisations we are already aware of, from around the world, and we are looking forward to hearing about more about plans for the Week.
Get involved
There is still time to involved in Nutrition and Hydration Week 2018 and you don’t have to have a whole week of activites – you could simply get involved for one or two days. We have identified some specific themes for each day throughout the week, so way not pick one or two of them:
- Monday – Big Breakfast
- Tuesday – Snacky Tuesday
- Wednesday – Global Afternoon Tea
- Thursday – Thirsty Thursday
- Friday – Fruity Friday
- Saturday – Smoothie Saturday
- Sunday – Sundae Sunday
Or, perhaps, create your own themes for certain days of the Week but – how about a Taste Testing Tuesday, Weigh in Wednesday or Fluid Focus Friday? The choices are endless and you don’t have to limit them to the Week either.
The most important thing is to get involved, to share your great practice and make a difference. We would really love to hear all about your Week and share your story, so please let us know by either joining us on social media: @NHWeek #NHW2018 or contacting us at: info@nutritionandhydrationweek.co.uk
