Organizational aspects of starting and running an effective nutritional support service

Setting up and running a Clinical Nutritional Support Team can be challenging and is time consuming. Team members have to be motivated, committed and persistent. High quality working relationships are fundamentally important within the team, between teams and with other healthcare professionals. Good communication, careful planning, sensitive implementation and robust monitoring are the cornerstones of a successful service. Looking forward as well as back will help the team to maintain and improve its position in an ever-changing environment. While nutritional support is everyone's business, an effective multiprofessional Clinical Nutritional Support Team is the best way to ensure that patients receive appropriate and timely treatment. It is also wise to remember that a successful Clinical Nutritional Support Team will be as committed to its own development as it is to the care of the patients referred to it.