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Raising awareness, and identifying those individuals most at risk of malnutrition, in health and social care settings, including those we care for in their own homes, are the cornerstones of good nutritional care.

Key to the success of this strategy will be partnership working, and I am encouraged that public and professional feedback supports the development of a Nutrition Coalition, ensuring good nutritional care can become everyone's business.

The Coalition will be the public voice of the strategy, raising awareness and fronting campaigns, which build public confidence, so that people will know what to expect from our health and social care services.

Individuals quite rightly expect to be supported with eating and drinking when they are ill or, have a long term condition which requires support, or are frail and require care and assistance. The environment and the quality of food, beverages, and help with feeding are often cited as a benchmark by which people judge the quality of care.

In Promoting Good Nutrition! A Strategy for Good Nutritional Care for Adults in all Care Settings in Northern Ireland, the 10 Key Characteristics of the Council of Europe Resolution on Food and Nutritional Care in Health and Social Care Settings, sets the scene for the development of a framework for action, by describing what good nutritional care looks like for each characteristic.

Promoting Good Nutrition presents a significant challenge over the next 5 years, however building on the progress of, "Get Your 10 a Day" to include all health and social care settings including peoples own homes, we will aim to ensure that everyone identified as requiring nutritional support, experiences good nutritional care.

This will require everyone to work together to improve the quality of nutrition through a better focus on this vital aspect of care.