Dietetics
Adult Acute Team
Our Specialist Services
Our acute nutrition and dietetic team are based at the Royal United Hospital and works across all adult wards.
Critical Care
Critically ill patients have altered nutritional needs, and ICU dietitians play a key role in meeting them. Nutrition may be provided orally, via feeding tubes (enteral), or directly into the bloodstream (parenteral) when the gut isn't usable.
The ICU dietitian regularly assesses patients and works closely with the wider clinical team to ensure timely, safe, and appropriate nutrition that supports healing, reduces complications and infection risk, and improves overall recovery and hospital outcomes.
Surgery
Our surgical dietitians support patients before and after an operation to help optimise recovery, prevent malnutrition, and promote wound healing. We assess nutritional needs, monitor progress, and ensure patients receive safe and appropriate nutrition during their hospital stay.
If patients are unable to meet their needs through eating and drinking, we can provide tube feeding or nutrition directly into the bloodstream. We work closely with the surgical and nursing teams to manage issues such as poor appetite, weight loss, or digestive symptoms, offering tailored advice to support healing and overall health.
Stroke
Our dietitians support stroke patients by assessing nutritional needs, preventing malnutrition, and ensuring safe eating and drinking. They work closely with speech and language therapists for swallowing difficulties, provide texture-modified diets or tube feeding when needed, and offer tailored advice to aid recovery and maintain health.
Gastroenterology
Our gastroenterology dietitians support patients with digestive disorders, helping them eat the right foods and maintain adequate nutrition to prevent weight loss and malnutrition.
We specialise in conditions affecting the stomach, liver, pancreas, small intestine, or colon, including:
- Crohn's Disease
- Liver Disease
- Pancreatitis
- Coeliac Disease
If the ward team is concerned about a patient's food intake or weight loss, they will refer to a dietitian for assessment and support. There is a number of limited outpatient appointments for these patients.
Oncology and Macmillan
Our Macmillan Dietitian, based at the Royal United Hospital, provides inpatient and outpatient care for patients undergoing treatment for oesophageal, stomach, and head and neck cancers.
Diabetes
Diabetes is a lifelong condition that causes the blood sugar level to become too high. The aim of treatment is to develop self-management skills to help achieve optimal blood glucose control.
The adult diabetes dietitians work closely with diabetes consultants, specialist diabetes nurses community and inpatient), diabetes psychologists and diabetes podiatrists.