Who we are

The Nightingale Trust was set up to highlight the ongoing issues surrounding malnutrition in today’s society. Nutrition is one of the key pillars for life and without proper nourishment patients cannot effectively benefit from their prescribed treatment plans.

The Nightingale Trust for Nutritional Support was formed in 2005. It is named after Florence Nightingale, who recognised that starvation was common in hospitals, and also after the first Chairman, Dr. Jeremy Nightingale, a Gastroenterologist with a special interest in nutritional support. The Trust is run entirely by volunteers, most of whom are healthcare professionals.

Training tomorrow’s experts

The primary aim of the Nightingale Trust is to educate healthcare staff (includes nurses and doctors) in the safe care of patients needing enteral or parenteral nutrition in hospital or at home.

The Nightingale Trust has developed a gold-standard residential course for nurses involved with nutritional support entitled; ‘Caring for Patients Receiving Artificial Nutritional Support’. With a focus on the practical issues of care and management, the course is open to all healthcare professionals.

The key to providing (and improving) good care is staff training and education. This is becoming increasingly difficult to provide in today’s overstretched and financially challenged NHS. The Nightingale Trust provides help with the purchase and supply of educational equipment and supports essential research into all issues relating to nutritional support.