Charity, Patient or Professional Association of the Year

Summary of work

BAPEN is a charitable association that raises awareness of malnutrition and works to advance the nutritional care of patients and those at risk from malnutrition in the wider community. BAPEN provides education, advice and resources to advance the nutritional care of patients and those at risk from malnutrition.

Formed in 1995, BAPEN has always enjoyed a strong reputation within the clinical community but has never fully succeeded in communicating with the general public about the importance of good nutritional care and the dangers of malnutrition in the UK in the 21st century.

However, 2018 represented a turning point for BAPEN. The organisation hired a new external communications agency (M&F Health) in January 2018 and the agency focused on delivering cut-through key messages to the public. The year saw a complete overhaul of BAPEN’s social media presence, press office services and the introduction of a stand-out campaign, the UK’s first ever Malnutrition Awareness Week, all delivered for a small budget and with just one part-time communications officer at BAPEN.
As a result of the hard work, by the end of 2018 BAPEN was being approached proactively by journalists to comment on stories about nutrition, and had formed new relationships with UK organisations in the health and social care field, as well as new collaborations with international clinical organisations. On top of this, BAPEN membership numbers doubled within a year and profits from the BAPEN Annual Conference increased.

This performance was particularly impressive in light of the challenge faced in communicating about the work of BAPEN.

Clinical nutrition is an immensely complex field, and BAPEN’s remit spans healthcare in the acute and community setting, and inevitably touches on food first approaches, oral nutrition support as well as enteral and parenteral nutrition. As such, a number of different healthcare professionals are involved in supporting patients.
On top of this, BAPEN has a remit and a mission to tackle malnutrition in the social care setting and in the community, and this was clearly recognised as the most ‘newsworthy’ story to tell.

BAPEN had to ensure that messages about its own identity were clear and not confusing, and also ensure that communicating in the public sphere about malnutrition did not alienate the healthcare professional member base which is often preoccupied with other nutritional concerns.

Judges' comments

BAPEN’s small team and budget made their achievement more impressive, which made it deserving of a high score. It was an effective use of a small budget with their social media, and it was admirable that they started from such a low base but now have a team of such committed people.