To promote nutrition and hydration in care settings, you should:
- Provide regular balanced, nutritious and appealing meals tailored to individual dietary needs and preferences
- Ensure regular meal and snack times
- Encourage frequent drinking and fluid intake throughout the day
- Monitor for signs of malnutrition or dehydration
- Offer assistance with eating and drinking for those who need support
- Create a calm, social mealtime environment
- Use nutritional screening tools like the MUST tool to assess and support at-risk individuals
- Involve service users in meal planning to respect preferences and encourage appetite