The team work at the Assessment and Treatment Unit, Ash
Green, which is part of the Specialist Learning Disability
Service for Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust. Staff at
the unit noted that their patient group had difficulty
making their own meal choices from written menus. The
group wanted more than anything to give their patients
some degree of independence to make their own daily
decisions and the ability to express themselves wherever
possible. The team has produced a friendly, pictorial
nutrition toolkit as a result of a project undertaken by the
team in conjunction with “Valuing People”.
Following the initial success of the project, which won
several regional awards, including one from Nursing
Weekly, the team asked East Midlands NHS Innovations to
assist and advise them with the aim of further promoting
and rolling out the product beyond the Trust. Mustard
Merchandise, an innovative promotional merchandise
company were responsible for further development of the
kit to a more suitable commercially viable design. The
delivery team of the Teenage Parent Healthy Living Project,
several healthcare related organisations, several specialist
schools and Nottinghamshire County Council have
volunteered to be involved with the trial. Nottingham
Rehab Supplies has been identified as a major distributor
for the product.
The toolkit encourages greater one to one interaction and
helps the patient express more clearly their likes or dislikes
using this method. Interaction between patients and staff
where the project has been used has improved significantly.
The patient is better able to grasp the concept of healthy
eating (or the requirements for specialist diets) and it serves
an effective basic educational tool to encourage patients
with speech difficulties to learn to pronounce or memorise
the various food items.
For more information on this project, please contact:
beth.degraft-johnson@em-nhs-hub.org
