To ask the Minister of Health whether his Department has undertaken any assessment of the financial impacts of malnutrition on the health and social care system, in the last five years.

Neither my Department nor the Public Health Agency has undertaken any assessment of the financial impacts of malnutrition on the health and social care system in the last five years.

While no recent Northern Ireland–specific financial assessment has been carried out, it is recognised that malnutrition is associated with poorer health outcomes and increased use of health and social care services, including longer hospital stays, increased complications, and greater demand for community and social care support. My Department continues, however, to take forward a range of policy actions aimed at improving nutritional health and reducing the wider impacts on the health and social care system. These include:

Healthy Futures – the framework for preventing and addressing overweight and obesity, which sets out a whole-system approach to improving diet and nutrition, supporting healthier choices, and reducing obesity prevalence across the population; and

Making Life Better, the Executive’s public health framework, which sets the broader cross-government direction for public health, including an emphasis on healthy eating, maintaining a healthy weight, and preventative approaches to reducing diet-related ill-health.

In addition, work continues within health and social care services to support the early identification and appropriate management of malnutrition in clinical and community settings.

These approaches recognise the importance of prevention and early intervention in improving health outcomes and in helping to reduce longer-term pressures on health and social care services.