BSNA has written an article on prescribing Oral Nutritional Supplements (ONS), which was published in the August / September edition of the NHD Magazine. The article states the importance of ONS as a means of preventing and managing malnutrition, which can have an economic benefit in terms of health and social care costs. The article highlights that the provision of healthy nutritious foods should always be the first choice, but that patients should be prescribed ONS when they cannot meet their daily nutritional requirements from food alone and each patient should be regularly monitored and reviewed by a healthcare professional. The NICE Quality Standard on Nutrition Support in Adults (QS24) recognises that significant savings to health and social care costs can be achieved relatively quickly through the provision of nutritional support. BSNA believes that ONS should be available on prescription by appropriate prescribing to all patients who need them and recognises it as an integral part of the management of conditions which require nutritional support.

For more information and to download a copy of our information sheet on the value of FSMPs see our section on Medical Foods

The full article can be accessed here.