HOSPITAL teams in Gwent will be able to provide better mouth care for inpatients as part of a Wales-wide project using a new risk assessment system.

Good mouth care can help protect patients' overall health and minimise infections, but while recent nursing audits have shown that patients value help with mouth care, it is not always done well in hospitals in Wales.

The new risk assessment system includes a visual checklist available as a poster for hospital wards. It has been developed through Wales' 1,000 Lives Plus programme and details are available at www.1000livesplus.wales.nhs.uk/mouthcare