Care Quality Commission Guidance about compliance. What providers should do to comply with the section 20 regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Regulation 14: Meeting nutritional and hydration needs

The intention of this regulation is to make sure that people who use services have adequate nutrition and hydration to sustain life and good health and reduce the risks of malnutrition and dehydration while they receive care and treatment.

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Hospital food is an essential part of inpatient care. Appetising food will encourage patients to eat well, and must contain the nutrients they need to recover from surgery or illness. Catering staff, dietitians, clinical staff, porters, nurses, speech and language therapists, healthcare support workers and other staff who contribute to the provision of food and fluid to hospital patients, all have an important role to play in the co-ordinated approach necessary to provide patients with a first class food service.

The Good Practice Guide provides a framework for nurses and other healthcare practitioners at all levels. It has the potential to really make a difference to the nutritional status of people when they are in hospital and has received endorsements for the following organisations click here.

Scope of the Guide

The Good Practice Guide sets out the standards that, patients, and their carers, have a right to expect from catering services in the NHS.

Good food, and the support to eat it, is considered to be an integral part of a patient’s care plan, giving them the nutrients they need to support a rapid recovery from surgery or illness. Ensuring that Food is the Best Form of Medicine and Food First Approach at all times.

The Francis Reports highlighted that nutrition and hydration are basics requirements and, as such, must form a KEY and ESSENTIAL part of the patient’s stay and recovery.

This document is designed as a ‘how to’ manual for delivering excellence in food and beverage service to patients. It promotes outstanding service from the point at which food and beverages arrive at the service area to when the meal or refreshment service is concluded.

It is aimed at all those people with responsibility for providing a food service to patients including:

• Clinical Modern Matrons
• Ward Sisters
• Ward Housekeepers
• Ward Managers
• Ward Hostesses
• Doctors
• Nurses
• Dietitians
• Caterers
• Porters
• Day Centre Managers
• Speech & Language Therapists
• Domestic Services

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