Following the launch of the NICE Quality Standards for nutrition, the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) has unveiled its enhanced nutritional care Commissioning Toolkit and supporting summary guide and is calling for the National Commissioning Board to prioritise nutrition and hydration as fundamental elements of improving dignity and care.
BAPEN is also urging all CCGs (Clinical Commissioning Groups) to commit to commissioning the best nutritional care and hydration for their local population, develop local nutrition CQUINs (Commissioning for Quality & Innovation) and seek advice from BAPEN and their local Dietetic and Nursing leads. BAPEN’s Commissioning Toolkit enables CCGs and providers in local authorities, primary care organisations, hospital Trusts and foundation hospitals to include best nutritional care when commissioning/redesigning all care services across all health and care settings. It will help service providers to meet the basic CQC standards and work towards achieving the NICE quality standards by including nutritional care in the development of new business cases. It will also support them in collecting the data needed to prove they meet nutritional quality standards and recommendations. The toolkit will also assist commissioners to set appropriate and achievable key performance indicators (KPIs) and to effectively contract and monitor services against an appropriate quality specification. In short, the Commissioning Toolkit outlines the actions required at every level of the system to achieve real improvements at pace and scale. A copy of the toolkit can be downloaded from the BAPEN website www.bapen.org.uk
