Malnutrition is a common concern within Care Homes with up to 42% of Care Home residents at risk (1). In NW Surrey there are over 2500 Care Home beds for older people across 48 Residential or Nursing Homes. Disease related malnutrition can lead to complications . Optimising nutritional care within Care Homes is essential, particularly given the additional challenges of COVID-19.

This project set out to to develop, test and evaluate a training program specifically for Care Home staff to improve knowledge and understanding of nutrition and hydration.

The team are now working to extend the teaching to Learning Disability homes and with individual Care Homes on how they can adopt the training within their home and monitor for improvements and identify the next topic of training that would be beneficial.