Raising awareness of the need for weight and nutritional monitoring of disabled children and young people
Having been stalled by the Covid-19 pandemic, we are very pleased that we are making good progress with our Weigh to Go! campaign.
The 2018 Each and Every Need report recommended that: “patients with neurodisabling conditions should have their weight and nutritional status considered at every healthcare encounter, and assessed and recorded based on clinical need.”
However, not all UK healthcare providers and environments have the facility, resource or skills to accurately weigh and measure all children and young people. The NCEPOD review identified that weight and height were not recorded in all children and young people (CYP).
Whilst BACD acknowledges that it is not always clinically appropriate to weigh and measure every CYP on every visit (if their growth is being monitored elsewhere, or if they have very frequent assessments) it believes it is unacceptable that weight and nutritional status should not be considered and recorded during every encounter, and that all CYP health services should be able to offer the facility to record weight and height for all CYP.
BACD believes that:
- All children and young people must be weighed and measured where appropriate
- It is needed to make sure they get the right amount of medication
- It is needed to check that they are healthy and growing well
Watch our update below. You can sign up to hear updates about Weigh to Go at [email protected]
