Lead nurses and managers at Stepping Hill Hospital took time to highlight the importance of volunteers who help patients eat healthily during a promotional week.

Dining companions are volunteers who support patients on the wards during meal times.  Dining Companions offer support to patients who may have difficulty feeding themselves or who are at risk of malnutrition or dehydration if they didn’t get some help.  The support offered to patients varies from opening packets, checking cutlery, encouraging a patient eat to actually feeding a patient.

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Stepping Hill Hospital, has recently given the companions new bright yellow tabards so they can be easily identified by both patients and staff. The tabards were worn by lead nurses and managers during the nutritional promotional week to raise awareness of both the tabard and the role. Trust Chair Tony Warne also joined in the promotion on the trust’s Bluebell Ward based at the Meadows in Offerton.

All dining companions have to have attended a bespoke training course which has now been into the induction for all new volunteers.  The volunteers are trained to feed or support the feeding of patients, who may have a cognitive impairment like dementia or have mobility, visual or communication difficulties.  The course includes advice on mealtime preparation, hygiene awareness, nutrition, special diets, compromised swallowing, table set up, meal time assistance, and what to do at the end of a meal as well as feeding patients.

One volunteer, Angela Gill regular helps out as a companion. She said “The staff have made me feel very welcome and have accepted me as part of the team. When the meal arrives I initially help to serve the food ensuring the correct patient gets the right meal, and then I help one specific patient as I the social aspect of the experience is really important, building up a relationship that helps with their recovery. It’s so rewarding.”

There are currently around 120 dining companions working at Stepping Hill Hospital and the voluntary service is keen to recruit more. Anyone interested in volunteering as a dining companion can email  voluntaryservices@stockport.nhs.uk or contact 0161 419 5400 for more information.