Complan offers nutritional food supplements

Assessment of patients
Patients who are believed to be at risk of malnutrition should be assessed using a validated nutritional screening tool, such as the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool ('MUST'), as recommended by NICE. NICE recommendations on where to screen using 'MUST' : all hospital inpatients on admission all outpatients at their first appointment all people in care homes on admission all people on registration at GP surgeries and upon clinical concern. Consider screening at other opportunities (for example, health checks, flu injections). Repeat screening weekly for inpatients and when there is clinical concern for all. Screening should be carried out by healthcare professionals with appropriate skills and training. Assess body mass index (BMI), percentage unintentional weight loss and time over which nutrient intake has been unintentionally reduced and/or the likelihood of future impaired nutrient intake. If a patient is considered to be malnourished or at risk of malnutrition, the underlying cause of poor nutritional status should be clearly identified and appropriately managed Patients who are identified by 'MUST' as being at medium to high risk of malnutrition will usually benefit from an increase in their calorific intake Target weight should be agreed with the patient or carer Patients at risk of malnutrition receiving nutritional support should be monitored weekly or monthly, according to the level of risk. All weights should be documented.

Quick reference chart If your patient has any of the following: Source: National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

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Treatment options Where patients are identified using the 'MUST' tool as being in need of nutritional support, two lines of action are recommended by healthcare professionals: First line: Encourage additional calorie and protein intake by dietary measures and food fortification Second line: Provide Complan Shake and continue to encourage increase in calorie and protein intake by dietary measures and food fortification. Patients should cease sip feeds and/or fortified foods and return to normal eating once the target weight has been achieved. Food fortification First-line dietary measures and food fortification should be used to increase calorie and protein intake and improve the nutritional status of patients Guidance should be given on increasing their dietary intake through nourishing snacks (teacake, crumpet, scone, malt loaf, cake, cheese and biscuits, yoghurt), nourishing drinks (milk, milky based drinks such as milky coffee, hot chocolate or malted drinks, fruit juice) or fortifying food dishes such as custard, milk pudding, porridge, soup, with extra ingredients, such as milk powder, double cream, cheese and margarine, to increase the calorie and protein density of the food This type of food fortification is particularly useful in people who have a reduced appetite Sip feeds Sip feeds are a class of oral nutritional supplements and are used in a variety of medical conditions to supplement the diet. Some may be prescribed as "borderline substances", but prescribers should only prescribe them where the indication meets ACBS (Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances) criteria. Prescriptions should be for specified ACBS -endorsed medical conditions, including: short-bowel problems intractable malabsorption pre-operative preparation of undernourished patients proven inflammatory bowel disease following total gastrectomy dysphagia disease-related malnutrition. It is also acceptable to prescribe sip feeds for patients who are considered to be at nutritional risk or malnourished according to NICE criteria. The use of sip feeds should only be considered in addition to increasing their dietary intake through nourishing snacks, nourishing drinks and food fortification. Prescriptions for sip feeds should not be put on repeats. Sip feeds should NOT be used as general supplements for poor appetite.

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