Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Earl Howe (Conservative). It was answered on Thursday, 25 February 2010.

NHS: Metric Units

Question: My Lords, the National Patient Safety Agency has reported that one of the reasons for poor nutritional care in our hospitals is the, ""lack of equipment, and particularly a lack of availability in weighing scales"." Today, the Government’s own advisers on malnutrition have written to her colleague, Mr Hope, urging him to, ""discuss with your fellow ministers how the apparent lack of policy on malnutrition might be remedied"." In those discussions, will the Minister ask that all NHS hospitals have the weighing equipment that they need to help identify patients at risk of malnutrition?

Answer: The National Patient Safety Agency has indeed expressed concerns about the impact that weighing scales have in relation to inaccurate readings, or possibly the inability of staff to operate the equipment properly. Training is a very important part of this whole drive to get these things right. I will take away the point the noble Earl has made and make sure that my honourable friend takes it into consideration.

Secondary information