Hunger and Food Poverty are emotive topics. How do they impinge on values-based practice in health and social care? What does this mean for practitioners?

Values are what drive us.  The mention of hunger or of food poverty, is likely to elicit an exposure of our individual values, as these are emotive triggers. But serious topics such as these merit more than just a small instant charitable donation.  For those of us working in health and social care, working with hunger and food poverty is an integral part of our professional business. Not only does hunger drastically restrict the lifestyles and wellbeing of our patients and clients, but it also results in increased pressures on healthcare and social care providers, including third sector organisations.

By definition, Values-based Practice (V-BP) is a process that supports health care decision making where complex and conflicting values are in play. That means we may have to evaluate how to work in politically charged environments without causing harm to the very people who need our help most.

Working with hunger, whether in the consulting room or the food bank requires not only the clinical skills of values awareness; values communication; values reasoning; and values-based partnership working, but also some skills which are not yet well-covered in the V-BP literature, especially values-based advocacy, and values- based leadership in health and social care. Hopefully this seminar and any spin-off work that follows may contribute to learning in these areas.