Tanya Haffner, the dietitian and founder of MyNutriWeb, which hosted the event, said she hoped the discussion would be a crucial step to drawing up a Ten-Point action plan to present to Government.
The expert panel session was chaired by Mary Hickson, professor of dietetics at the University of Plymouth, who said that too many thought that feeding people was easy.
“It’s not, it’s complicated, and we need to persuade NHS leaders of that because good nutrition is the foundation of good health. It’s also about comfort and connection and this should be an integral part of how we feed patients.”
Asked about their own top priorities for any NHS Food Strategy the panel touched on a number of different ideas.
Lucy Jones, a specialist dietitian with Oviva, felt that digital tools offered so much opportunity to improve health screening, allergy management, specialist diets, and to measure outcomes to provide useful data.
Duane Mellor, a senior specialist dietitian at the University of Canberra wanted good nutrition to be more holistic, saying: “Let’s remember it should include prevention, treatment, and recovery.”
Dr Shireen Kassam, director of the organisation Plant-Based Professional UK, urged that good nutrition be embedded in all aspects of clinical care.
Phil Shelley, senior operations manager with NHS England, said he wanted to see a focus on patients and the workforce, adding ‘they are our drivers of change’.
Anna Taylor, executive director of the Food Foundation, said that in a poor food environment, the NHS needed to become a ‘louder voice on prevention’.
Kevin Morgan, professor of governance at the University of Cardiff, said change would only happen when nutrition was given ‘parity of esteem’ with the what he called the ‘three D’s – drugs, diagnostics, and devices’.
Mary Hickson summed up the meeting: “It can be quite depressing at times, but tonight has shown how exciting it can be in addressing the need for change.”
MyNutriWeb offers CPD-accredited learning and expert specialist insights in key nutrition and health for professional dietitians.