ABSTRACT
Nutrition is fundamental to health, providing energy for body function, repair of damaged tissue and healing. Mortality rates reflect malnutrition (Kennedy, 1997). Some patients are malnourished on admission, but many become more, rather than less, malnourished during their hospital stay (McWhirter and Pennington, 1994; Campbell et al., 2002). Malnourishment is especially high among older people – up to half of older people admitted to hospital being undernourished (Cornish and Kennedy, 2000). Up to 40 per cent of hospital patients remain malnourished throughout their stay (Pearce and Duncan, 2002). Sicker patients may
n be unable to eat; n be nil by mouth; n have diets restricted by disease (e.g. renal diets); n have poor appetites (e.g. from nausea or pain).
