Survey of food offered to United Kingdom haemodialysis patients attending for dialysis sessions in main dialysis centres and satellite units and international comparison

BACKGROUND: Haemodialysis (HD) patients are at increased risk of frailty, sarcopenia and protein energy wasting, all associated with increased mortality. Most of the dialysis day is taken up with travelling to and from dialysis centres and dialysis treatment. The International Society of Nutrition and Metabolism (ISNM) recommend that meals or supplements should be part of standard clinical practice when patients attending for dialysis. RESULTS: We surveyed adult UK centres to determine the provision of food to dialysis patients in the United Kingdom (UK). A hot meal was provided by six (8.7%) of the 69 UK adult units, although 16 (23.2%) main centres would potentially provide meals to a restricted number of malnourished patients. Forty-seven (68.1%) centres provided sandwiches, although this was restricted in eight main centres, and 26.2% of units did not provide sandwiches to patients in their satellite dialysis centres. Biscuits were the only nutrition routinely offered in 15 (21.7%) of the main dialysis units, 41.3% of satellite units. Meals were more likely to be offered in Northern Ireland and Scotland compared to England, and 38% of the main dialysis units in England, and 58% of their satellite centres did not routinely offer patients a sandwich compared to none or one centre in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. CONCLUSIONS: Despite an increasing older, more frail dialysis population in the UK, food provision for dialysis patients has reduced, particularly in England, with < 10% of centres routinely offering hot food, and > 50% of dialysis units now only offering biscuits to their satellite dialysis patients.