A Day in the Life of the Community Dietetics Service
What does the team do?
NCH&C’s community dietetics service is delivered in patient homes and community clinics.
The department is made up of three teams: the general community team; home enteral feeds; and learning disabilities. There are opportunities for developing skills in all areas, if you have a particular interest. The teams also work closely with the acute dietetic department at NNUH.
Our Dietitians support and advise patients through different means including telephone appointments, domiciliary visits and outpatient clinics. They are also involved in the delivery of group education sessions for a range of conditions and client groups.
Jo Gravells (pictured right), Specialist Learning Disabilities Dietitian at NCH&C, talked to us about her role:
“We’re a team of four Specialist Learning Disability Dietitians covering the whole of Norfolk as a county-wide service. We see patients with a learning disability for a range of nutritional concerns including: nutrition support, Type 1 & 2 diabetes, allergies, intolerances, coeliac disease, IBS, metabolic conditions, weight management and vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
“As Specialist Learning Disability Dietitians we ensure our service users receive the correct dietary advice that is person-centred to their
needs, taking into account their learning disability, with reasonable adjustments made to support them where necessary.
“Multidisciplinary work is essential and there are five different LD Teams across Norfolk (North, South, East, West and City) that we cover/work in.”
“Working out in the community means we can spend more time with our patients, with more joined up working with our multidisciplinary team (MDT) colleagues. This improves our integrated working within the learning disability service and therefore improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of care our services uses receive.”
Meet the team
Want to find out more about what our Dietetics Team do? Click here to meet the team and see what their job involves.