DIETETIC TEAM

Team name
DIETETIC TEAM

Address
Flatts Lane Centre
Flatts Lane
Normanby
Middlesbrough
TS6 0SZ

Service opening hours
Opening hours: 9am-5pm (some appointments are available outside of these hours)

About the team
Registered dietitians are qualified health professionals who assess, diagnose and treat diet-related and nutritional problems. Dietitians interpret the science of nutrition, aiming to improve health and treat conditions by educating and giving practical advice. Dietitians work with a variety of people in a variety of settings, using the most up-to-date, evidence-based information on food, health and disease which they translate into practical guidance to enable people to make appropriate lifestyle and food choices.

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust have an established team of registered dietitians, nutritionists and associate practitioners / dietetic assistants working in a number of clinical areas throughout Teesside, Darlington, County Durham, North Yorkshire and York. What is a dietitian?

What we do
Dietitians work closely with each individual in need of dietetic support and also work closely with the multidisciplinary team, families and carers, outside agencies, catering services, pharmacy and many other teams, colleagues and services within the trust. Our health professionals:

• Use expert knowledge and skills to translate evidence into practice, and deliver patient-centred and practical dietetic interventions
• Utilise behaviour change techniques, mindfulness, motivational interviewing and experience to provide nutritional interventions supporting people to engage in regular and healthy patterns and challenge delusional beliefs to aid physical and mental health
• Have an important role in advising catering teams, menu design, and policy and pathway development
• Coordinate specialised feeding regimes for patients who are identified as being at risk of refeeding syndrome
• Prescribe enteral feeds and oral nutritional supplements
• Lead on the whole systems approach to the management of overweight and obesity
• Contribute to dietetic student training (teaching and placement facilitation).

We’re part of a regional weight management plan ‘A Weight Off Your Mind’ which aims to address the weight management needs of people with mental illness and/or learning disabilities in our care. We recognise this is a health inequality issue and we want to bring the physical health, life expectancy and quality of life of our service users in line with those of the general population.

Specialist areas

_{Adult learning disabilities (ALD)}

The Adult Learning Disabilities dietetics service provides diet advice and support to service users to improve their approach to nutrition and to manage their weight where needed.

People with Learning Disabilities sometimes have poor physical health and a poor life expectancy. By addressing and supporting physical health needs we can improve people’s overall health and quality of life.

We recognise that not everyone’s needs are the same and we make sure that any support is tailored to each individual by providing them with relevant information and guidance

We work closely with speech and language therapists, as part of a wider multidisciplinary team, to manage the nutritional requirements of service users with complex needs. We also liaise with dietetic colleagues working in mainstream services to help support to service users who are admitted to hospital.

_{Adult learning disabilities: Dietetics Team, County Durham and Darlington}

Dietitians are the only nutrition professionals to be regulated by law and governed by an ethical code, to ensure that they always work to the highest standard.

A dietitian is a degree qualified health professional who:

• Helps to promote nutritional wellbeing by aiming to prevent, assess, diagnose and treat nutrition related problems
• Provides practical and safe advice, based on current scientific evidence to enable people to make appropriate lifestyle and dietary choices.

People with learning disabilities can have a higher risk of developing the following health conditions: diabetes, osteoarthritis, obesity, malnutrition and constipation.

The Dietetic Service can help to identify and treat people struggling with these, and other health conditions, whilst working with other health professionals and carers.

Referrals are received from health professionals within our Trust services.

_{Secure Inpatient Services Dietetic Team}

The dietetic team for our secure inpatient service is based in Middlesbrough and provides dietetic input for Roseberry Park Hospital.

The team has specialist dietitians, a dietetic assistant and registered nutritionist. We work closely alongside patients to provide a high standard of nutritional care and encourage healthy lifestyle choices.

We provide a number of services such as: ward-based assessments and reviews, group education sessions, healthy eating advice, weight monitoring, training of health care professionals, menu planning, promotion of healthy choices in the shop and vending machines and multidisciplinary team working.

Our patient caseload also includes: weight management, nutrition support, diabetes management, capacity assessments around diet and physical health and advice surrounding nutritional deficiencies.

Referrals: New admissions to the hospital, and patients transferred to a new ward, will be assessed by Dietetic Services.

_{Mental health services for older people (MHSOP)}

As people get older eating habits and appetite can change, this can be for a number of reasons and some people may even struggle to eat. However getting enough energy and protein is very important for your physical health and overall recovery.

The trust MHSOP dietetic service supports any service users, usually over 65, whose mental health has affected their diet and  led to them becoming underweight, overweight and /or having an unbalanced diet.

We work with service users to provide dietary advice and support and to help you maintain a healthy weight, whilst making sure you are getting the nutrients you need to keep you healthy.

The MHSOP dietetic service includes seven registered dietitians and four dietetic assistants that work across the Trust.

We offer community and inpatient support in Durham and Darlington and inpatient support across North Yorkshire.

Referrals to the service are made by colleagues in the Trust. If you feel that you could benefit from our support please speak to your care worker who will be able to discuss this further with you.

_{Adult eating disorders (AED)}

Dietitians play an important role in treating eating disorders and work together with service users throughout their recovery journey.

The adult eating disorders dietetic service operates Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm and is made up of six registered dietitians that work across the following areas:

• Adult eating disorders community teams in Teesside, Durham and Darlington, York and North Yorkshire
• Eating disorders enhanced day service
• Specialist eating disorders unit inpatient unit.

We will support you to develop an individualised care plan that meets your  nutritional needs and helps you to develop a more positive relationship with food.

Examples of some of the work dietitians are involved with include:

• Nutritional assessments
• Facilitation of psychoeducational group sessions.
• Individual nutritional education
• Development of refeeding meal plans and support through the process of refeeding.
• Development and review or nasogastric feeding regimes
• Development of individual care/meal plans specific to the service user’s nutritional needs and goals e.g. weight restoration or the reintroduction of challenging foods.
• Close multi-disciplinary team working
• Policy development
• Staff and student training
• Menu development.
• Meal support/post meal support
• Facilitation of practical sessions including meal planning/shopping/meal preparation/social eating

Dietitians also work within a number of other areas within the trust, such as:

• Adult mental health (AMH)
• Children and young people’s services (CYPS)
• Secure inpatient services (SIS)
• Health and Care Professions council (HCPC)

All dietitians are regulated by the HCPC and must adhere to set standards. View the standards that dietitians working in TEWV must adhere to here.

British Dietetic Association
Dietitians have a responsibility to act in a professional and ethical manner. The British Dietetic Association’s Code of Professional Conduct provides a framework to ensure the accountability of dietitians who work in the interest of public safety at all times. View the British Dietetic Association’s Code of Professional Conduct here.

Patient feedback
We hold regular (monthly where possible) patient groups to help patients share feedback, ideas and innovation.

Feedback:
Please let your care team know if you want to comment on whether:

• this information is useful
• anything information is missing
• you do not understand the information.

Do you have concerns or complaints?
If you have concerns or complaints about a service you can:

• tell a member of staff
• call our patient advice and liaison service (Complaints) on Freephone 0800 052 0219  
• email [email protected]

Useful links

• British Dietetic Association food facts – click here
• EatWell Guide – click here
• Diabetes UK Easy Read resources – click here 
• British Heart Foundation – click here
• Example of a Food, Symptom and Mood Diary – click here

Information in other languages and formats:
All of our information leaflets are available in many formats; please contact a member of staff if you would like this leaflet in:

• another language
• large print
• audio 
• braille

L1118 V2, 14 / 02 / 2022 (archive 13 / 02 / 2025)