President's Message
Dr Trevor Smith, BAPEN President
Conference 2019
I would like to start my welcome to In Touch by inviting you to the opening session Good Morning BAPEN LIVE from Belfast at this year’s conference. We are doing things a little differently this year and you ‘MUST’ make sure to attend the opening session! You’ll hear all about how we are tracking against our vision, BAPEN’s five-year plan, our goals and importantly, what role you can take in helping us achieve these. You’ll also hear from some special guests in our panel discussion on where does nutrition features in the new health and social care world.
Make sure you don’t miss out on this and the chance to meet and mingle before the start of the conference!
Remember to register if you’re attending. We are really looking forward to having our conference in Belfast, one of Europe’s most vibrant and flourishing cities. Belfast is easily accessible by air or by sea with direct flights from 17 UK airports and over 230 flights per week! Flight schedules have been released so please book early and take advantage of the Early Bird Rates and airfares available. More information on flights, accommodation and venue details is available on our website.
We look forward to seeing you bright and early in ICC Belfast, @9:30am on the 26th November!
Abstract submissions are currently open for the Powell-Tuck Prize (best abstract submitted by a doctor in training), the Pam Harris Medal Lecture (best abstract submitted by a nurse on a piece of work where the primary focus is patient care or management) and the PENG Award (best abstract on nutrition support by PENG member). All submissions must be submitted no later than 5.00pm on Friday 21st June 2019.
Malnutrition Awareness Week 2019
You may have heard on the grapevine that we have announced the dates for our second UK Malnutrition Awareness Week which will take place from 14th – 20th October this year.
We want to build on the incredible success from last year and continue to raise awareness of malnutrition amongst the general public, and right across the health and social care spectrum. We are delighted that we will be once again teaming up with the Malnutrition Task Force to run the campaign, their support is immensely helpful and helps us to spread the message further.
Our focus for #MAW2019 will be on communicating about the need for effective malnutrition screening in all settings. We will be particularly focused on driving use of the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (otherwise known as ‘MUST’) and our online self-screening tool. Of course, we will also be running Data Collection Week with our Nutritional Care Tool during the week itself, so please do support us during the week by providing us with your local data which helps us build a national picture of standards of care.
Last year we were absolutely thrilled that many of you arranged local events to help raise the profile of malnutrition. We are proud to announce Robyn Collery who is a Dietitian & Clinical Educator in Care Homes as our first MAW2019 champion! Robyn was a key contributor during MAW2018 and took part in some fantastic work and engagement during last year’s Malnutrition Awareness Week at the Dietetics Department at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust. Robyn was involved in educating patients, relatives and staff about malnutrition at the MAW stall during the week, engaged staff members in the MAW Selfie campaign and shared their MAW work by engaging with the hashtag #MAW2018 on Twitter. As Robyn said herself “UK Malnutrition Awareness Week is a fantastic opportunity to spread the word, share good practice and shine a light on malnutrition!”
This year we would love to get as many people involved as possible! whether you work in a hospital, primary care centre, care home or other community setting, you can run your own Malnutrition Awareness Week event. You can fill out the form on our website page and keep a watch out on our social media as we will post updates as we get nearer to the week itself!
Professor John Lennard-Jones
Everyone at BAPEN was immensely saddened to hear of the passing of Professor John Lennard-Jones recently. We extend our heartfelt condolences to John's family.
Professor Lennard-Jones made a remarkable contribution in the field of gastroenterology and he was dedicated to the clinical nutrition cause. He had a hugely positive influence on patient centred care and was a founding member and Trustee of BAPEN and was always active and highly influential within our organisation. Professor Lennard-Jones was also BAPEN’s first Chair and laid a very strong foundation for BAPEN’s subsequent success. He was the first recipient of the BAPEN lifetime membership award in recognition of his achievements.
His contribution to BAPEN will be always remembered through the John Lennard-Jones Medal which is awarded by BAPEN to somebody who we feel should be recognised “for significant and consistent contribution to BAPEN over many years”. The award is the highest accolade that BAPEN can bestow and is therefore quite rightly named after this great man. He will be greatly missed.
PINNT and ‘Positively Me’ fashion show
We would like to congratulate PINNT executive committee members Carolyn Wheatley and Tracy Hill who took part in the ‘Positively Me’ fashion show recently. The fashion show was organised by Jess Shire, who was a member of PINNT when she was younger and cares deeply about body confidence, something that can really matter for people living with artificial nutrition. The show was a brilliant success!
Don’t forget to take a look at the Diary Dates section at the end of each issue of InTouch for a full schedule of other key dates for your diary.
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