A collaborative and person-centred approach were key to updating the NSW Health Nutrition Standards into a new digital resource that reflects patients’ needs.
“The Nutrition Standards form the cornerstone of nutritional guidance for food menus across NSW Health facilities,” explains Kim Crawley, Manager of the ACI’s Nutrition Network.
Tasked with updating the Standards, the network saw an opportunity to listen to consumers and health staff about what they need to ensure the information is accessible and user-friendly, while also meeting a variety of patient needs.
“We consolidated three separate standards catering to adult, paediatric and mental health patients into a single, searchable web platform,” says Kim. “This helped to simplify the Standards and make them easier to use.”
Suzanne Kennewell, Co-Chair of the Nutrition Network and Director of Nutrition and Dietetics, Sydney Local Health District, commented on the robust consultation during the review of the Standards, “We engaged with clinicians, vendors, suppliers, HealthShare NSW and consumers to understand each perspective."
“Delivering the right food to the right person in a hospital is a complex logistical exercise. Patients have a broad range of nutritional and psychosocial needs.”
To provide patients with the best possible clinical outcome and food they want to eat while in hospital, we need to balance clinical nutrition needs, with choice, taste and logistics. This also needs to be financially and environmentally sustainable to the health system.
Lifting the consumer voice
Sarah Cullen is proud of her role as a consumer representative during the review. “The ACI really listened to consumers during the review of the Nutrition Standards," she says. “We told them that we wanted nutritious, appealing and familiar meals that can help us to eat and to heal when we are sick or injured.”
Patient choice is a core component of the Standards. Patients often eat less during times of illness or injury, particularly in the hospital environment with fixed mealtimes and interruptions. Having the option to choose foods that they prefer encourages them to eat and get the nutrition they need.
An innovative approach was used to further understand the consumer perspective. A consumer jury of 12 people with lived experiences of hospital stays deliberated on the contentious issue of sodium and saturated fat limits. This decision considered the balance between taste, cost and health needs.
The jury recommended to maintain upper limits for sodium and saturated fats, which is reflected in the Standards.
What’s next?
The update of the Nutrition Standards is part of a broad transformation program to improve food in NSW hospitals, explains Kim. “The focus now shifts to the implementation phase, guided by a robust governance framework aimed at resolving any emerging challenges.”
A steering committee will lend their expertise and oversight to this ongoing work.
What’s new?
- Consolidation of mental health, acute care and paediatric standards into a single searchable digital resource for enhanced user experience.
- Short stay menu options are now included to cater to varying patient needs.
- Stronger emphasis on accommodating patients’ religious, cultural, lifestyle and life-stage food preferences and needs.
- Sustainability considerations are now included.