The Enteral Nutrition Service works with patients to make sure they can receive the nutrition they need, even if they can’t eat and drink enough.
We work closely with healthcare staff throughout our hospitals to provide the most appropriate feeding treatment for patients.
Conditions we treat
The main conditions we treat include:
- Inflammatory bowel disease for example Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
- Failure to fully absorb nutrients (malabsorption)
- Food intolerances
- Malnutrition related to other diseases.
Specialist dietitians work closely with gastroenterologists to provide personalised nutrition support advice to a range of patients. We make sure that we clearly discuss plans for treatment with the patients, family and carers.
We use specially-designed food and drink supplements to help patients take in the right level of nutrition they need. We also use other ways to feed patients with specially-designed food:
- Nasogastric tubes (nose to stomach tubes)
- Nasojejunal tubes (nose to small bowel tubes)
- PEG tubes (tubes inserted directly into the stomach)
We teach medical and dietetic students in our service, so our staff may be accompanied by students when they treat our patients.
Accessing our service
Patients can be referred to our service by any of our gastroenterologists listed at the bottom of this page.