National Clinical Guideline 22

National Clinical Guideline 22 on inpatient hospital nutrition

Screening and increased treatment to prevent malnutrition has been mandated for all inpatients in Irish public hospitals, as part of National Clinical Guideline 22 on inpatient hospital nutrition – published in April 2020.

The key protocol is the roll out of nutrition screening, as part of all public hospital admissions. Those identified as at risk, because of weight loss and inadequate intake, are then typically to receive high protein and energy diets while in hospital, together with oral nutrition supplements (ONS) as needed.

Nurses will conduct screening and higher risk patients will be referred to hospital Dietitians for assessment and follow up. All inpatients are also to be re-screened weekly.

The Guideline Nutrition screening and use of oral nutrition support for adults in the acute care setting was developed through the National Clinical Effectiveness Committee (NCEC), and published by the Department of Health. IrSPEN was centrally involved and has strongly supported this work.

IrSPEN encourages all public hospitals to work towards their implementation and following is information to support this work.

THE GUIDELINE (published at www.gov.ie)

• The Full Guideline
• Executive Summary
• Treatment Pathway
• Inpatient Malnutrition Risk Screening and Treatment Pathway
• Risk Management Pathway for Hospitalised Adults
• Dysphagia Pathway
• Budget Impact Analysis
• Screening Tools
• Clinical and Cost Effectiveness

NEWS RELEASES

• April 23, 2020: Nutrition screening to be introduced for all patients admitted to hospital
• Dec 8, 2020: Length of hospital stays can be shortened – with new standard for inpatient nutrition

VIDEOS

View IrSPEN’s videos on National Clinical Guideline 22 on Inpatient Nutrition in Public Hospitals.

These should be useful for Managers, Dietitians, Nurses, Catering, other hospital staff and the general public.