Nutrition and Dietetics

Our service is available for both adults and children living in Berkshire.

Unfortunately we don’t accept self-referrals. If you’d like to access our service, please ask your healthcare professional to refer you through our Integrated Hub.

Email integratedhub@berkshire.nhs.uk

Appointment letters are now digital. You will receive a text message with a secure link to your appointment information and be able to confirm, cancel or rebook with just one click. 

Find out more information about digital correspondence

Useful Contact Numbers

You can contact our teams and dietetics offices if you have questions about how we can help you.

Call Abbott Hospital to Home Service (24 hour helpline)  0800 0183 799

Call Royal Berkshire Hospital  0118 322 7116 

West Berkshire

Call Community Dietitians  0118 904 3251

Call Learning Disabilities Dietitian  0118 207 7682

Call Children with Complex Needs Dietitians  0300 365 4000 

Call Dietitians working in Royal Berkshire Hospital  0118 322 7116

East Berkshire

Call Community Dietitians 0118 904 3250

Call Learning Disabilities Dietitian  07500 918083

Call Children with Complex Needs Dietitians  01753 635073

We can help you in many different ways, such as:

• Individual consultations to assess, treat and educate you on therapeutic diets
• Offering advice if you’re living in a residential home and are at risk of malnutrition (in special cases, we also see people in their own homes)
• Supporting you if you’re receiving artificial nutrition at home to minimise complications and avoid going back into hospital
• Running specialist weight management sessions
• Providing nutrition education for you, your family, carers and other health professionals

We can also support you if you’re receiving care at Royal Berkshire Hospital.

Our Paediatric Community Nutrition and Dietetic Services team provides outpatient clinic support for children and their families/carers, who need support and advice with their nutritional intake to promote good growth and/or help manage a clinical diagnosis.

Our team covers issues such as fussy eating and food refusal, faltering growth related to poor intake, and allergy advice.

If your infant has a confirmed diagnosis of cows milk protein allergy, visit our page on managing your child's cows milk protein allergy for further advice and support.

Appointments

When you come for an appointment, you’ll be seen by the dietitian who’ll assess your child’s nutritional intake and review the issues affecting it. You’ll be given advice and an agreed plan to help manage these issues. This appointment will usually be with a dietitian alone and will happen in a variety of settings across the county.

If you are a parent/carer

To access help from our service, contact needs to be made by a relevant healthcare professional. Therefore, please speak to a GP or other healthcare professional. 

If you are a professional

Referrals to the Community Nutrition and Dietetics team must  be made by a healthcare professional by completing the Community Dietetics referral form and returning it to us

View our Community Dietitian Paediatric referral form (pdf)

Email integratedhub@berkshire.nhs.uk

When making a referral, please provide details of the child or young person’s height, weight and change in weight centiles over the last six months.

Contacting us

We work as two locality based teams to cover the East and West Berkshire areas. Our teams are based in several locations across the localities, but the central point of contact for the service is based at West Berkshire Community Hospital.

Call Berkshire East Community Dietetics 01753 636724

Call Berkshire West Community Dietetics 01635 273710

Body Mass Index (BMI)

A healthy weight can be checked by calculating your Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is the measure of your height and weight, which is then compared against a chart. The BMI chart can give a good indication of whether you’re under or overweight, or you’re average weight.

Find more NHS information about BMI calculations

Visit the NHS Better Health website to read about losing weight

Weight Off Your Mind (WOYM)

Community Dietitians run a virtual weight management programme called Weight Off Your Mind. Read our course leaflet for more information about eligibility.

Read our WOYM course leaflet (pdf)

Please note we do not offer a service for weight loss injections.

View WOYM Course Guide (pdf)

View Masterclass Guide (pdf)

Dietary changes can help IBS symptoms and sometimes simple changes are all that are required.  Remember to monitor your symptoms by keeping a food and symptom diary. If you require further help ask your doctor to refer you to a dietitian. We offer free live webinars and specialist clinics to provide advice on diet lifestyle choices if you have IBS.

View First Line Dietary Advice (opens new browser tab)

We offer further live webinars and specialist clinics to provide advice on diet lifestyle choices if you have IBS. Contact your local dietetic team to find out if you’re eligible to join.

Our dietitians can support you if you’re receiving tube feeding at home. It can take a while to adjust to tube feeding, but if you need support our videos and leaflets can guide you if you’re having difficulties.

You can also contact our team if you have any more questions.

I have questions about my feeding pump

If you have any questions about your tube, pump or devices, or you need to speak to an Abbott Nurse Advisor out of hours, you can contact the free Abbott helpline.

Call 0800 0183 799

My feeding tube has come out

If your balloon gastrostomy tube has fallen out, you will need to place a stoma stopper or Enplug as soon as possible. Both our video and leaflet show you how to do this.

Visit Vimeo to watch our video on placing a Stoma Stopper (opens new browser tab)

Read our Stoma stopper guide (pdf)

Read our guide on what to do if your tube falls out (pdf)

My feeding tube is blocked

If your gastrostomy or jejunostomy feeding tube is blocked, there are several ways you can try to unblock it.

Visit Vimeo to watch our video on unblocking a feeding tube (opens new browser tab)

My Corflo PEG is broken

If the Y end on your Corflo PEG tube has broken, you can replace it with a new end connector.

Visit Vimeo to watch our video on replacing the connector on your Corflo PEG tube (opens new browser tab)

Patients on Intravenous & Nasogastric Nutrition Therapy (PINNT)

PINNT is charity that provides practical support to you, your family and your carers if you’re receiving tube feeding or parenteral nutrition.

Visit the PINNT website (opens new browser tab)

I have other concerns

Our troubleshooting guide can support you if you have other questions about tube feeding

Read our troubleshooting guide (pdf)

Not eating enough of the right things can lead to malnutrition. This might mean your feel more tired and find it difficult to concentrate. In some severe cases, malnutrition can lead to a higher risk of infections, falls and poor wound healing.

To support you, we use your Body Mass Index (BMI) number and assess your level of risk using our Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST). Depending on your risk level and needs, we’ll work with you to create your care plan.

• Find out more about malnutrition and nutrition support
• Find out more about MUST calculator 

Our guides can help your learn more about nutrition.

• View our Making the most of what to eat guide
• View our Homemade milkshakes guide  
• Watch our video on Fortifying Your Diet
• Watch our video on Nourishing Drinks

If you’re a care professional, you can use these MUST assessments and care plans with your patients: 

• View our MUST for people in their own homes assessment
• View our MUST for people on Community Hospital Wards assessment
• View our MUST for people in Care Homes assessment
• View our MUST for people with Learning Disabilities assessment
• View our Nutritional Screening tool for palliative care assessment

Malnutrition is caused in part by poor appetite and poor intakes of food and drink resulting commonly in weight loss as well as increased risk of infections and other illnesses.

It’s vital as staff within care homes to be able to recognise the signs of malnutrition and initiate treatment as early as possible.

Our videos and guides provide tips for improving resident’s eating and drinking to reduce risk of malnutrition or treat it once diagnosed.

View our Care Home resources and videos