Barriers to healthy eating in the nursing profession: Part 2.

Aim: This is the second of two articles that report on work commissioned by the NHS Executive North West, to explore the perceived barriers to healthy eating within the nursing profession.

Method: Observations were made of catering facilities within eight healthcare sites (six acute hospitals, an NHS walk-in centre and an NHS Direct site) across the North West region. Twenty four unstructured interviews were conducted with nurses and three were sampled from each healthcare site.

Results: Four main themes emerged as barriers to healthy eating: availability; variety; distance from catering facilities; and breaks/staffing levels/workload issues

Conclusion: Respondents in this study do not consider their working environments to be conducive to healthy eating practices.