He said: “We need an urgent review of how catering services are provided at ward level within NHS hospitals.
“This must include the implementation of a robust, nutritional-focused patient screening programme and the return of full responsibility of catering to hospital caterers.”
He was responding to data released from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that indicates at least two patients die every day in UK hospitals and care homes where poor nutrition or dehydration is a factor.
The ONS said that malnutrition or dehydration were mentioned on the death certificates of 726 patients who died in hospital in 2015, and a further 130 who passed away in care homes.
Shelley added: “Under our Last 9 Yards campaign, our members have consistently called for the catering service to be fully bought back under their control, making caterers responsible for the full service from ingredient to plate.
“As it is, once the food leaves the kitchen it is often no longer under our control. Giving caterers back full responsibility will release critical clinical time from other nursing professions on the wards.
“The statistics released by the ONS should be represented and scrutinised fairly if measures to improve are going to make a difference.
“We would challenge the idea that patients are starving to death in hospital. Hunger and thirst were noted as a factor in these deaths but elderly care and their nutritional needs are an extremely complex issue.
“These deaths are unlikely to have come directly from lack of nutrition once admitted to hospital, but rather sadly caused by preventable pre-existing conditions such as malnutrition.
“And although hunger and thirst was noted on death certificates they may not always be the sole cause of death but part of a more complex combination of symptoms.
“We cannot escape the fact that the NHS is under extreme pressure from the amount of patients admitted to hospital with pre-existing malnutrition and dehydration; a very small percentage of who, will unfortunately not recover.
“The increasing levels of malnutrition within the nation is shocking and we are campaigning for the implementation of a focused national screening programme forall patients on arrival, to help identify their personal nutritional position.
“We believe early identification of nutritional needs on admittance can be used to support patients who have additional needs. The current focus on health and social care must be accelerated to challenge the way we currently we work.
“Malnutrition is a preventable issue, and identification at hospital level is simply both too late and not enough, identification and prevention before hospital admission and within the community has got to be a priority.”
According to the ONS, the 2015 figures are a reduction on the situation in 2005 when malnutrition and dehydration was mentioned in relation to more than 1,000 such deaths.