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malnutrition in patients a very real issue
The first Irish “Nutrition Screening Week” took place Jan 12 th -
14 th 2010 with members of the Irish Nutrition & Dietetic Institute
(INDI) participating to establish current, accurate figures and
evidence on the prevalence of malnutrition among Irish patients
in hospitals and residential settings.
Nutrition Screening Week (NSW) is an initiative started by
the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
and involves taking simple heights and weights of patients
and monitoring their dietary intake whilst in hospital. This
assessment is also known as the MUST tool and is endorsed by
the Department of Health and Children.
In Ireland, studies in 2000 found that 11% of patients
admitted to hospital were malnourished and between 63 and
84% were at nutritional risk. In the UK, malnutrition affects 10-
55% of ill adults in hospital and in the community.
Other studies indicate that at any given time, about 93% of
malnutrition occurs in the community, about 2% in hospitals
and the remaining 5% approximately equally divided between
nursing and residential homes.
Malnutrition has a wide range of adverse consequences
including the following:
• Impaired immune responses with increased risk of infection
and reduced ability to fight infection once established.
• Impaired wound healing and delayed recovery from illness
• Reduction of appetite and impaired ability to eat
• Increased risk of admission to hospital and length of stay
• Higher rates of mortality
Malnutrition is a burden to patients, health and social services
and society in general, with an estimated public expenditure
Call to outlaw FMG in Ireland
It is one year since the launch of Ireland’s first National Action Plan
on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). One year on the National
Action Plan is yet to be formally adopted by any government
agency and specific legislation outlawing this form of torture in
Ireland is still not in place.
The goals of the action plan are to prevent the practise of FGM
in Ireland; to provide high quality, appropriate healthcare and
support for women and girls who have undergone FGM and to
contribute to the worldwide campaign to end FGM.
It is estimated that over 2,500 women living in Ireland have
undergone the procedure and thousands of children are at risk of
this potentially fatal practice and violation of human rights.
The recommendations propose a law be enacted which will
outlaw FMG in Ireland. The Steering Committee is particularly
concerned about the gaps between the current UK legislation,
covering Northern Ireland, and our own. The Female Genital
Mutilation Act 2003 in the UK introduced extraterritoriality,
making it an offence, for the first time for UK nationals or
permanent UK residents to carry out FGM abroad, or to aid, abet,
counsel or procure the carrying out of FGM abroad, even in
countries where the practice is legal.
Salome Mbugua, Director of AkiDwA says “There is currently no
explicit legal protection against FGM in Ireland; neither is there
specific legislation to protect a child from being removed from
Ireland to have the procedure carried out overseas. We hope
that the Minister for Health and Children will get the appropriate
support from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
and the Attorney General in urgently progressing this matter.”
For more information contact Sioban O’Brien Green, AkiDwA,
Co-ordinator Migrant Women's Health Project, 01 814 8582.
that has recently been calculated at over £13 billion a year in the
UK.
Malnutrition can affect all age groups but the elderly and
those already suffering from various conditions and diseases are
at a higher risk.
“Identifying the prevalence of malnutrition in Ireland will
help stakeholders to identify where additional resources are
required to address this very real health issue in patients and
assist in creating care plans in health and residential centres”,
according to Margot Brennan PRO of the INDI .
“Malnutrition may not always be an obvious area of concern
among the general public, as attention is focused at levels of
obesity and overweight which continue to rise, but malnutrition
is a very real issue that exists not only to patients who suffer
with associated health problems but also to the public purse, as
it is a high cost to the health service.
“Healthcare practitioners and the statutory health services
need to become more acutely aware of the issues pertaining
to incidences of malnutrition and the data collated by National
Screening Week will provide all stakeholders with evidence
based information to provide a plan of action in the area of
patient malnutrition,” explains Brennan.
Many factors contribute to malnutrition and in this area,
which often has many complex socio/economic/educational
and health management factors contributing, it is essential that
qualified, highly experienced dietitians are involved at a very
high level to advise not only on patient care among multidisciplinary
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the redress of this high risk health issue.
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