NCEPOD report on parenteral nutrition

The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) has published its latest report on parenteral nutrition (PN). 

The report, A Mixed Bag: An Enquiry into the Care of Hospital Patients Receiving Parenteral Nutrition, highlights how patients with a compromised nutritional status – where oral or enteral feeding is not an option – are cared for.

The study asked all NHS hospitals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to monitor any patient who received PN as an inpatient between 1 January 2008 and 31 March 2008. The study did not include patients who received PN treatment at home. A total of 5,527 patients from 218 hospitals met the inclusion criteria for the study; of these, 2,222 cases were not selected, on the basis that the study only required each consultant to submit data from two patients, which meant a total of 3,138 cases were included in the study.

An expert group including consultants from gastroenterology, neonatology and paediatrics was called upon to assess the structure of the study and to review the findings.

The experts found that 19% of adult patients received PN care that was considered to represent good practice. Around 34% of the cases that were found to be lacking in adequate care involved clinical care. A further 24% of cases showed that patients’ PN care was considered to be deficient in both clinical and organisational factors. Less than satisfactory care was recorded in 9% of cases.