Improving hospital food could save the NHS money and reduce the amount of time before patients are discharged, says a report by the Nuffield Trust.

It calculates that malnutrition in hospital costs the NHS nearly £300m a year.

The report, Managing Nutrition in Hospital - A Recipe for Quality - says the government's newly appointed body, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), should formulate national guidelines for the commissioning and management of nutrition in hospitals.

NICE has been established to standardise and improve care across the NHS.

Low priority

The Nuffield Trust says nutritrion is an ideal "whole-hospital" model for improving clinical governance in hospitals.

It thinks nutrition is currently given a low priority when it should be at the core of clinical care, rather than defined as "a hotel function".

The report says:

• 40% of adults and 15% of children admitted to hospital are undernourished, leading to post-operative complications, reduced resistance to infection and delayed recovery
• Food in hospital often makes malnutrition worse
• On average patients leave up to 40% of their lunch and evening meals in hospital
• If people were given nutrition support, 10% would have their hospital stay shortened by as much as five days.

Previous research has shown that many vulnerable patients, particularly the elderly, often leave their food because they are given no support to help them eat it.

The report calls for a clear definition of who is responsible for food provision and for closer coordination of food and clinical care in hospitals.

It adds that contracting out food preparation has been a barrier to improving quality.

Value for money

Claire Rayner of the Patients' Association welcomed the report.

She said: "It is a clear-eyed view of the great importance of food to sick people.