Resources for Social Prescribers

Malnutrition Pathway Primary Care Network Portal

Social Prescribers provide personalised support to individuals, their families and carers to help them to take control of their health and wellbeing, live independently and improve their health access and outcomes. They are well placed to discuss how patients are managing with accessing and preparing food as well as identify potential challenges. They can therefore assist in identifying individuals at risk of malnutrition and signposting them to appropriate services.

There are several useful resources available both to assist Social Prescribers in identifying malnutrition risk and also to assist them in initiating conversations about diet:

‘Initiating conversations about unintentional (unplanned) weight loss and diet’ - a list of questions to help obtain useful information; assists in selecting the most appropriate course of action and dietary advice resources for the individual. GO TO QUESTION SHEET
The British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) has a useful ONLINE SCREENING TOOL to be used with individuals who are experiencing unexplained weight loss or are experiencing a loss of appetite/poor appetite and not eating well. It is simple to follow; enter current weight and height and the weight they were 3 – 6 months ago before illness/lost weight. The calculation gives advice on further steps.