We have published a brand new report detailing our findings on screening for malnutrition within the community. Over 2 years we have been collecting data from older people across Scotland aged 65+, and our data has shown that we can estimate up to 30% of older people living in the community are at risk or increased risk of malnourishment.
Data collection commenced in January 2019 when we launched our training, toolkit and awareness raising of community screening tools, including the Paperweight armband and, from July 2019, the Patient Association Nutrition Checklist.
We trained and supported those working with older people in the community including volunteers, carers, lunch clubs, day centres, social groups, housing associations and voluntary sector organisations to feel confident and comfortable in starting conversations with older people about the issue of malnutrition, using our toolkit and reporting their screening data back to Eat Well Age Well.
In total 1494 older people have been screened with 268 (18%) found to be at risk or at increased risk of malnutrition. Yet we have found the prevalence of malnutrition ranges from settings (e.g. 31% in domiciliary care and 17% in community settings) and these figures are higher than the published national statistic of 10% of over 65s .
You can read and download the report in full below:
We welcome your feedback and enquiries so please contact us if you would like to discuss the report or would like more info on using malnutrition screening tools in the community.