Pooja Shah, a postdoctoral researcher working on the Tangerine project (aiming to develop a novel intervention to improve nutrition and promote healthy ageing among older people from South Asian and Afro Caribbean communities in the UK) attended a roundtable discussion at the King’s Fund to explore what a greater focus on nutrition could mean for the health care system and those at risk of malnutrition. Discussion focused on the causes, prevalence, diagnosis and response to malnutrition. This included how we can engage those working across the health and care system at a national and local level – including primary care, social care, and those with clinical expertise – with improving the early diagnosis of malnutrition through patient screening, greater awareness, and the use of tools for better population health management. In the context of an ageing population, the roundtable also provided an opportunity to discuss the role of improved nutrition and targeted interventions in enabling people to remain independent for as long as possible.
The Kings Fund are delighted to share their recent blog, based on the roundtable discussion.