A decade and a half ago, in 2003, the Council of Europe published over 100 recommendations to improve nutritional care across European countries and the UK formed an Alliance led by the BDA over 2005-2007 to examine this issue. During this time the BMA passed a priority motion to strengthen nutrition related healthcare. Over two years, representatives from several professional organisations worked through the Alliance resulting in three outputs: a BBC documentary entitled ‘Hungry in Hospital’ around the patient journey, a consensus statement ‘The 10 Key Characteristics of Good Nutritional Care’, principles of which were subsequently enshrined in regulatory standards, and the ‘Department of Health 2007 Nutrition Action Plan’ containing a mandate for the ‘Need for Nutrition Education Project’.
NNEdPro was formed in 2008 with fellowship funding awarded by the National Institute of Health Research to two founding members in Cambridge, and an educational award from Abbott Nutrition to the BDA. Since then, NNEdPro has evolved from a project, through a multifaceted programme to a Global Centre for Nutrition and Health.