The Nutrition and Mental Health Toolkit

Aim

The purpose of the toolkit is to provide guidance, tools and resources to support the:

Implementation of the Nutrition Standards for Consumers of Inpatient Mental Health Services in NSW, and
Development of governance structures and leadership for implementing the NSW Health Nutrition Care Policy (PD2011_78).

Benefits

The toolkit will assist LHDs / Networks and/or facilities in both developing and implementing an action plan to meet the requirements of the Nutrition Standards and Nutrition Care Policy. It may assist in developing food service partnership level agreements.

Summary

The Toolkit contains information and practical tools and resources such as implementation checklists, a tool that maps the Nutrition Care Policy to accreditation requirements, meeting templates, spreadsheets for designing menus and presentation slides.

Background

The NSW Health Nutrition Care Policy directive (PD2011_78) released in December 2011 sets out the NSW Health framework for a strategic and coordinated approach to nutrition care and support from admission to transfer of care.

The ACI Nutrition Standards for Consumers of Inpatient Mental Health Services in NSW (“the Nutrition Standards”) were launched in October 2013 by the Minister for Mental Health. The Nutrition Standards are appropriate for most adults and older adolescents in mental health facilities, including those who are overweight/obese or nutritionally at-risk, due to over-or under-nutrition.