Time for a culinary revolution in hospitals. There is a draft regulation

Adequate nutrition of patients in a hospital is an integral part of the entire treatment process, and proper assessment of the nutritional status and implementation of an appropriate diet is an important element in increasing the chances of patients' recovery, improving the effectiveness of both conservative and surgical treatment, and reducing the risk of complications and reducing the time healing postoperative wounds. Malnutrition or an improperly selected diet may adversely affect the course of the disease and convalescence, extend the patient's stay in the hospital and, consequently, increase the costs of treatment.
Proper nutrition is an important part of therapy and it can also be an indicator of the quality of hospital care.

Due to the importance of proper patient nutrition, many European hospitals implement recommendations to increase the quality of services provided, inter alia, by improving the quality of nutrition offered in medical facilities.

It should be emphasized that pursuant to Art. 9 sec. 1 point 1 of the act of 15 April 2011 on medical activity (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 711, as amended), nutrition of patients in hospitals is a health service and should be adjusted to the patient's health condition. Currently, there are no legal acts that would regulate in detail the issue of nutrition standards for patients in hospitals.

As part of the implementation of two strategic government documents - the National Oncological Strategy for 2020-2030 and the National Health Program for 2021-2025, an action was planned to define nutrition standards in hospitals.

The draft ordinance of the Minister of Health on the requirements applicable to the provision of nutrition in hospitals is the implementation of the optional statutory authorization contained in Art. 72 sec. 6 of the Act of August 25, 2006 on food and nutrition safety (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 2021 and of 2022, items 24 and 138).

The draft regulation specifies the requirements for mass catering of closed type in hospitals referred to in Art. 2 clause 1 point 9 of the Act of 15 April 2011 on medical activity, with the exception of guaranteed services provided by hospitals to the recipient with the intention of their completion within 24 hours, i.e .:
1) hospital diet codes and nomenclature,
2) types of diets, their characteristics, recommended and contraindicated foods used in particular types of diets, and the nutritional and energy value of used hospital diets,
3) hospital nutrition card template.

It is expected that the definition of the requirements applicable to patient nutrition in medical entities will have a positive impact not only on the organizational standard of the unit, but also on the effectiveness of the treatment process and further patient recovery.

Project: TU

Source: RCL