The body needs a range of nutrients to keep it working well. If you, or someone you care for, does not eat enough of the right nutrients there is a risk of becoming malnourished. When a person loses their appetite it can become a struggle to eat enough food to provide the energy and protein to meet their nutrition needs and maintain their body weight. If this happens it can cause malnutrition.
Malnutrition can cause:
- Low mood
- Reduced energy levels
- Reduced muscle strength
- Reduced quality of life
- Difficulty with carrying out daily activities
- Increased risk of illness and infection
- Slower wound healing
- Increased risk of falls
If you are concerned about unplanned weight loss please speak with your health care professionals who will be able to screen you for malnutrition using a screening tool such as must-toolkit This tool assesses individuals as being at low, medium or high risk of malnutrition.
You can also screen yourself malnutrition self screening
I am at risk – What should I do?
It is important to deal with any underlying problems which cause weight loss or poor dietary intake.
Appetite can be affected by many different factors, e.g. low mood/depression, medication, constipation, problems relating to physical health. There can be physical limitations such as swallowing problems, poor tooth health or poorly fitting dentures. People with limited mobility or issues with their memory may benefit from support with shopping for and preparing meals.
If you are medium or high risk of malnutrition some simple changes to what you eat and drink can help you to improve your intake of nutrients such as energy/calories, protein, and vitamins.
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde has developed advice to help support a nourishing diet. In general we would recommend the following:
- Aim for 3 small meals and 3 snacks per day
- Use 1 pint of full cream milk daily
- Include a pudding daily
- Buy in foods that you enjoy
- Ask for assistance with cooking where possible
- Share cooking and eating at mealtimes with family and friends if possible
- Try using a company that delivers meals directly to your door or do your shopping online
- Include some fruit and vegetables e.g. fresh, tinned fruit or frozen
- Keep a store cupboard with food such as soups, instant puddings and tinned fruits.
For more detailed advice please click the tiles below.
For information how to increase your calorie and protein content of your diet if you have diabetes
Do I need supplement drinks (oral nutritional supplements ONS) to gain weight?
Most people do not require supplement drinks to help them gain weight or maintain their weight at a healthy level. For those who do require this treatment it is usually short term (3- 6 months) and after this time the large majority of people can manage their weight and nutritional status with diet alone. Supplement drinks are prescribable products and strict criteria (known as ACBS criteria) must be followed for you to receive these products. If you do not meet this criteria there are similar over the counter products that can be purchased in community pharmacies, shops and supermarkets. A list of these products is available below.
Prescribed supplement drinks should only be taken if advised by a Dietitian.
The Care Home Dietitians in NHSGGC cover all Care Homes across Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Their job role is primarily training and quality improvement. This includes data collection, improvement work, menu analysis, close multidisciplinary team working, and mealtime observations.
We work in partnership with Care Homes by supporting them with the tools and education needed to improve resident care and outcomes from a food, fluid and nutritional care perspective.
Along with Community Dietetics, the Care Home Dietetic Team has a role within the Care Home Collaborative. For more information about this team, please see their website on the button below
Good nutrition has a vital role in supporting people of all ages to maintain good health, this is especially true within the Care Home setting.
To support the management of Malnutrition within Care and Residential Homes a series of MUST training videos have been developed. See below
MUST training in Care Homes
Video 1 provides an overview of the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) and how to carry out the calculations.
Video 2 describes The MUST Step 5 Management Plan.
Video 3 provides an overview of Food Fortification including Food First strategies, snacks and nourishing drinks.
Video 4 is a case study discussion to review the completion and progress of a MUST Step Management Plan from initial completion through to the 4 week review
Video 5 is a case study discussion to review the completion and progress of a MUST Step 5 Management Plan from initial completion through to the 4 week and 8 week review.
New App for Care Home
Additional Resources
This webpage provides:
- Information about dietitians and how to access our clinical service
- Nutritional information and advice that can help people to manage their health condition
- Useful information for staff and colleagues.
- Click the button below to download a brief interactive website overview
Webpage Survey
We try to make the website as informative as possible, so would appreciate your thoughts. Please let us know what you think of the webpage and how we can improve it on the evaluation button below. It should only take 2 minutes to complete.
Who are we?
We are a team of dietitians, support workers and administrative staff. Our dietitians assess and treat nutritional and dietary issues in a variety of health care settings, including hospitals and health centres, across the health board area. The paediatric service also provide a Scotland wide service for inherited metabolic diseases and shared care to other areas.
Dietitians are Allied Health Professionals registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) who specialise in the assessment and treatment of a wide range of dietary issues for individual people and the wider population. The term “dietitian” is legally protected; only people that are suitably trained and registered with the HCPC can use this title.
What do we do?
A Dietitian will assess your dietary intake and will work with you to develop and agree a treatment plan to help meet your goals in relation to your health concerns. Examples of the benefits of seeing a Dietitian are:
- To reach or maintain a healthy weight
- To resolve symptoms caused by food allergies and / or intolerances
- To live healthily with a long-term condition, e.g. diabetes, coeliac disease, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, renal disease and weight management advice from the specialist weight management service.
Our governing body is the British Dietetics Association (BDA). See below for more information on dietetics. The site also provides information on a variety of topics including, “How to become a dietitian” and information on self management of certain conditions – see “Food Facts”.
How do you access our service?
You can ask your General Practitioner (GP) or other health care professional to refer you to a dietitian.
If you are under the care of a hospital consultant they, or a specialist nurse attached to the multi-disciplinary service, can also refer you to a dietitian.
About your appointment
Your appointment will either be face to face, by telephone or using NHS Near me video consultation. NHS Near me is new video consultation, more information is available on the button below
