Supporting patients, carers and staff with enteral feeding in the community

This service has prevented many A&E visits and admissions to hospital, so reduced time spent in A&E or acute services. Not only has this saved money for the NHS and freed up resources but,...

Introducing a feeding tube kit bag and passport for patients with a gastrostomy

Empowering health professionals through education, resources and information has helped them to provide a more efficient service to this group of patients. Even if they are unsure how to perform the...

An adaptable service: putting patients' needs first in nutrition nursing

I am grateful that my role and the role of the nutrition nurses in the team are so variable, which reflects the variety of areas covered by the role around the UK. Some nutrition nurses focus on...

A hidden challenge: exploring food refusal in prisons

The most important starting point for my project was to tackle misconceptions around food refusal. Although it can often be a form of protest, the staff I interviewed thought that it was sometimes...

Promoting nutritional education in primary school children

Studies carried out by various researchers including Rathi et al (2017), Baute et al (2017), de Vlieger et al (2019) and Cooper and Contento (2019) all concluded that today there is an immense need...

Nutrition in palliative care: issues, perceptions and opportunities to improve care for patients

Many patients experience profound symptoms during and after cancer treatment, which may result from the local effects of the cancer itself, the metabolic response to the cancer, including cachexia,...

Coming together to make a difference to nutritional care

'As we approach the end of the year it is always a good time to reflect on the months gone by and the progress made. In May 2022, I was successful in my application to join the National Nurses...

The nutritional needs of people living with a stoma

A urostomy is formed with a piece of small bowel so, in the initial postoperative period, there can be disruption to bowel function. This is not usually a long-term issue but fluid intake can be. It...

A multidisciplinary approach to providing blended diet within the acute setting

Since early 2017, the Complex Enteral Nutrition service and Paediatric Dietetic service has been supporting children to commence a blended diet in the community setting. However, it was noted that...

Shared decision making in dysphagia

Oropharyngeal dysphagia is the term used for difficulties with eating and drinking due to impairments of the oral or pharyngeal phases of swallowing. Dysphagia may result in aspiration, where food or...

The impact of nutrition on pressure ulcer healing

Complication rates associated with traction removal of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tubes

There are three enteral feeding specialist nurses at LTHT, two at Band 6 and one at Band 7. There were changes in the team over the period the data were collected; however, there was no correlation...