Wessex AHSN's nutrition team shortlisted for national award

Wessex AHSN's Nutrition in Older People programme team has been shortlisted for the 2018 CN Award for Community Nutrition Professional of the Year. The 2018 CN Awards provide the chance for all readers, advertisers and contributors of CN Magazines to recognise the achievements of those whose great work has made a significant difference within the nutrition industry - whether an individual, group or organisation.

The team has has spent the past four years developing approaches to help to reduce undernutrition among older people living in the community. They have been involved in several projects to evaluate integrated approaches to screening and nutritional care, such as the Pan Dorset Malnutrition Programme and the OPEN Eastleigh Project, which have allowed them to generate evidence and outcome measures to show that screening and care in the community can improve nutritional status, health, wellbeing and have significant financial impact.

To date, their projects have screened over 6,500 people and identified over 1,500 people at increased risk, who have been given advice, signposting and support. They have also been involved in raising awareness and working with voluntary sector organisations to develop new ways of identifying undernutrition risk. They have provided awareness training to approximately 800 health and social care professionals and 100 voluntary sector workers.

The freely downloadable OPEN (Older Peoples Essential Nutrition) Toolkit contains a wealth of resources to support the identification and treatment of undernutrition among older people living in the community. The toolkit has been widely adopted across Wessex and beyond.

Votes are now invited from health professionals for each of the ten award categories; view the shortlist in full, and cast your vote for Wessex AHSN's Nutrition in Older People programme team.

For further information about the CN Awards, visit www.nutrition2me.com/cn-awards.

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