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In collaboration with a number of other UK agencies, the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition has developed a malnutrition self-screening tool based on MUST. This can be used by any member of the public as it is freely available on-line.

Web-based Malnutrution Self-Screening Tool

At the end of 2015 BAPEN launched a Malnutrition Self-Screening Tool designed to help combat malnutrition.

Data from BAPEN’s Nutrition Screening Week surveys has shown that almost 30% patients on admission to hospitals in the UK are at risk of malnutrition, much of which could have been identified and treated in the community. As such, self-screening could help in the prevention and management of malnutrition.

The web-based Tool, which is free to use, is designed to help adults living in the community to identify their own risk of malnutrition. It is based on weight status and history of weight loss, using the criteria already incorporated into the ‘Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool’ (‘MUST’), the most widely used screening tool in the UK.

Individuals identified as being at risk of malnutrition, can download a dietary advice sheet that gives them basic information and suggestions for improving their nutritional intake, until they receive further advice from a healthcare professional.

This dietary advice sheet, which was developed as a consensus recommendation by a wide range of professional organisations and originates from the ‘Malnutrition Pathway’, provides guidance to GPs and other healthcare professionals on the management of malnutrition in the community.

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