As many as 140,000 Irish patients may be suffering from malnutrition, yet this problem continues to be ignored, experts have warned.

Malnutrition refers to under-nutrition that affects a person's health and wellbeing. It can come about if the body cannot use food properly, which can lead to a person losing weight and developing nutritional deficiencies. Certain diseases can also lead to appetite suppression.

The condition is avoidable and easy to treat, yet malnourished patients in Irish hospitals and the community are up to three times more likely to die within six months compared to similar patients who are not malnourished.

The comments were made at the launch of a new document, Every Patient Deserves Good Nutritional Care, which contains five key recommendations aimed at eliminating avoidable malnutrition in older and chronically sick patients.

The document was developed by the Irish Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (IRSPEN), the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute and the European Nutrition for Health Alliance. It is also backed by a number of patient organisations, such as the Irish Cancer Society and MS Ireland.

According to consultant gastroenterologist and IRSPEN director, Dr Orla Crosbie, patients who come into hospital in a poor nutritional state ‘are at a major disadvantage, and medical or surgical procedures can make it worse'.

"This makes it imperative to have systems in place to identify patients at risk, ideally in the community so that malnutrition can be prevented, and certainly as soon as they arrive in hospital," she explained.

The document calls for the introduction of mandatory nutrition risk screening in all hospitals and long-term facilities, as well as nutrition training for all healthcare professionals.

It also highlights the poor support available to patients who need to be fed by a tube or intravenously once they have been discharged from hospital. Many are ‘left largely to their own devices', the IRSPEN warned.

Its chairman, Prof John Reynolds, who is also head of surgery at St James's Hospital in Dublin, reiterated his plea to the government to tackle this issue.

"Unfortunately, I find myself once again calling on the government to give malnutrition the attention that it deserves. Every patient has a basic human right to have their nutritional and care needs met and to receive the support required in order to ensure malnutrition is prevented.

"Incredibly, for such a serious condition, combating malnutrition within our healthcare system still languishes as a low priority compared to other conditions and diseases which have far less human and financial costs. This needs to change," he insisted.

The document was launched at a conference, which was organised under the auspices of the European presidency. Speaking at the conference, Prof Olle Ljungqvist of the European Nutrition for Health Aliiance urged all EU governments to tackle this issue.

"Governments must ask themselves if the cost of continued inaction is affordable. Undernourished patients are around 60% more likely to be hospitalised and will have a 30% longer length of stay once there. In Europe, these healthcare costs add up to around €170 billion per year, whereas in Ireland, the costs may be as high as around 10% of your total healthcare budget - €1.4billion," he told the conference.

The call to action was welcomed by the Irish Patients' Association (IPA), which stated that the needs of patients ‘must be at the centre of any successful healthcare system'.

"It is completely unacceptable for patients to become malnourished within our healthcare system, and yet it is happening every day," commented IPA chairman, Stephen McMahon.