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Community dietitians

We see patients staying in hospital, attending outpatients and in the community, including their own homes.

We support patients who need tube- feeding or find eating difficult and those needing to achieve or maintain a healthy weight.

If you are unable to attend your appointment, please call or email the team on your appointment letter to change or cancel your appointment.

Contact

Call: 01296 831990

– you’ll then be able to select one of the following options:

  • Option 1 – Stoke Mandeville Hospital Dietitians (including NSIC Spinal)
  • Option 2 – Paediatric Dietitians
  • Option 3 – Community Dietitians
  • Option 4 – Wycombe Hospital Dietetic Team
  • Option 5 – Macmillan Dietitians

email bht.communitydietitians@nhs.net

Our Community dietitians are based at Amersham Hospital.

Patient information

If you have been referred to see a community dietitian, you may find useful information below:

Check your appointment letter for details of where you will see the community dietitian.

Our community dietitians work in the following healthcare locations:

If necessary, you may request your appointment to be online or a home visit.

If you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment please contact us as soon as possible. We will need to know your name, NHS number and the details of the booked appointment you wish to reschedule from your letter.

Please call us on: 01296 831990

 

BDA Food Facts- IBS

NHS Patient Webinar

Please contact your GP for referral if your symptoms are not improving.

The Patient Association Nutrition Checklist

First food videos that demonstrate how to add extra calories and protein to your meals without adding any extra volume.

If you have any concerns about your feeding tube please contact us.

If your feeding tube should fall out, please follow the guidance below:

If your feeding tube is a:

  1. PEG tube, for example, Freka 15 french:
    Attend A&E urgently.
  2. Balloon gastrostomies/low profile devices, for example, mic-key buttons and Radiologically Inserted Gastrostomies (RIG):
    Contact your Abbott Nurse or District Nurse or GP (ie your local healthcare professional) for further advice.
    If you are unable to make contact with the health care professional, then please attend the A&E Department at your local hospital. Take your spare tube with you.
  3. Jejunostomies:
    Attend A&E urgently

 

Information and resources to help with healthy eating and support weight loss.

Way Forward Bucks – information for patients

Websites and apps 

Food and activity Trackers:

  • Nutracheck App nutracheck.co.uk Allows you to record food intake and track exercise and can be used to follow a well balanced, lower carb, 5:2, higher protein, lower fat or lower sugar diet.
  • Mynetdiary mynetdiary.com Log meals, exercise and weight. Bar code scanner.
  • Drinkaware App drinkaware.co.uk Track and calculate units of alcohol drunk and calorie from alcohol.

Healthy Recipes ideas:

Physical Activity and Exercise:

Reading material:

Help with emotional or non-hungry eating:

  • The diet trap: Feed your psychological needs and end the weight loss struggle using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy by Jason Lillis
  • Overcoming weight problems by Jeremy Gauntlett-Gilbert & Clare Grace
  • The Weight Escape: How to stop dieting and start living by Ann Bailey and Russ Harris
  • 50 ways to soothe yourself without food by Susan Albers

Tuning into appetite and mindful eating:

  • How to Retrain your Appetite by Dr Helen McCarthy

Structured weight loss programmes:

Health Trainers:

Dietitian Appointments:

  • Individual appointments with a Registered Dietitian– ask your GP for a referral.

Products:

Information for healthcare professionals

Referrals to see a community dietitian must be submitted by a registered health care professional. GPs, primary care, community health and social care professionals can refer.

Self-referrals are not accepted.

Please complete the relevant referral form and email it to bht.communitydietitians@nhs.net

There are many factors which can cause malnutrition including poor appetite and poor intake of food and drink. This commonly results in weight loss as well as increased risk of infections and other illnesses.

It therefore essential that staff working in care homes are able to recognise the signs of malnutrition and initiate treatment as early as possible.

We have developed resources and videos to help improve your resident’s eating and drinking to reduce risk of malnutrition or treat it once diagnosed.

Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) training webinar

View or download a copy of the webinar slides: MUST training for care home staff webinar slides

Who is it for? All staff members working in Care Home environment that support residents with eating and drinking.

Duration of training: 45 mins

Learning objectives:

  • To be able to understand and complete MUST screening accurately
  • Understand how to use the BAPEN MUST online screening tool BAPEN online MUST calculator
  • Understand and familiarise yourself with the Bucks care home MUST management guidelines
  • How to complete a nutrition and hydration care plan – know what to include.
  • Understand a food first approach and the benefits for this.
  • Understand when it is appropriate to refer to a dietitian
  • To be confident in screening for malnutrition risk and implementing good nutrition and hydration practices for all residents.

Nutrition and Hydration in dementia training webinar

View or download a copy of the webinar slides: nutrition and hydration in dementia

Who is it for? All staff members working in Care Home environment that support residents with dementia with their eating and drinking.

Duration of training: 20 mins

Learning objectives:

  • Have a better understanding of how to support the nutritional needs of a resident with dementia.
  • Feel confident in using the information provided with residents with the aim of improving quality of life and reducing malnutrition risk.
  • Spotting and troubleshooting barriers to good nutrition and hydration.
  • To know when to seek more specialist nutrition support from the dietetic team

Food Fortification

The training webinars make reference to an approach called food fortification.

What is food fortification? Adding household ingredients to normal food to increase its nutritional content without increasing the amount of food which needs to be eaten

What is the aim of food fortification? To increase the nutritional intake by 500 calories a day. This can be achieved by fortifying meals, taking 2-3 small nutritious snacks in between meals and fortified milky drinks.

How to prepare homemade supplement drinks

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust Community Dietetic Service, have made a series of YouTube videos that outline how to prepare fortified milk and homemade supplements

Who are they for? Chefs, Catering Assistants, Care Assistants, Nurses, Hostesses and Nutrition Champions working in Care Homes whose role is central to supporting residents to meet their nutritional needs, including preventing and treating malnutrition

Duration of training: Each video is 2-4 minutes long

Watch a video on how to make …

Fortified milk

Fortified milkshake

Fortified fruit juice