No screening for malnutrition ‘due to lack of money’

Some hospitals are afraid to screen patients for malnutrition because of a lack of money, a damning watchdog report has found.

Despite the condition hitting one in four people admitted to hospital, an audit found fears the cash is not there to pay for better food and increased dietetics to assess nutritional health.

A study of 13 hospitals by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) found only half of patients are weighed after admission.