Dietitians are qualified and regulated health professionals that assess, diagnose, and treat dietary and nutritional problems at an individual and wider public -health level.
They use the most up to date public health and scientific research on food, health, and disease which they translate into practical guidance to enable people to make appropriate lifestyle and food choices.
Our team are experts in nutrition and dietetics and see patients in a range of settings such as hospitals, community clinics and in the patients’ home.
Our teams provide nutritional assessments and advice on appropriate diets for specific clinical conditions to adults, carers, relatives, and staff. Our aim is to help and support patients to follow their diet in a manageable and practical way. We also offer training and advice to other healthcare professionals.
Tier 3 Specialist Weight Management for Adults
The Tier 3 Adult Weight Management service comprises of a multidisciplinary team: a GP with a specialist interest in obesity, a specialist weight management dietitian, psychological therapist, exercise specialist and dietetic assistant.
The team works predominantly in group settings to support patients with a BMI ≥35 with co-morbidities and BMI ≥40 with no co-morbidities to lose weight and refer onto bariatric surgery if and as required.
Diabetes Dietitians
This team are part of the Integrated Care Diabetes Service working across Heywood, Middleton, Rochdale and Bury. They work closely alongside specialist diabetes nurses, consultants, and GPs with a specialist interest in diabetes to offer structured education programmes such as Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating (DAFNE) and Diabetes Education and Self-Management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed (Desmond) to type 1 and type 2 diabetics.
They also provide specialist diet clinics for individual support, carbohydrate counting, refreshers in carbohydrate counting and a range of non- specialist groups for newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes.
Referrals should be sent through the Integrated Care Diabetes Service diabetes one stop hub.
The team are an integral part of the multi-disciplinary team in the outpatient setting for gestational diabetes, young persons’ clinic and transition clinic at Rochdale and Fairfield General Hospital.
Nutrition Support Team
The nutrition support service supports people who are or at risk of becoming malnourished and those receiving artificial feeding. Most work is delivered in care homes, clinics and patients own homes across Heywood, Middleton, and Rochdale by Registered Dietitians. There is also a Food and Nutrition advisor works across the Nursing homes and Care homes delivering a programme called Malnutrition United. This programme supports staff to identify malnutrition and as a first step encourages food fortification for patients.
The teams’ overall aims are to:
- Support patients to retain their independence around nutrition and hydration
- Reduce nutrition and hydration related admissions into hospital
- Prevent and reduce malnutrition across community settings
Patients that are referred to the team may have medical conditions such as cancer, neurological (nervous system) conditions, learning disabilities, lung disease, heart conditions and gastroenterology conditions such as coeliac disease, liver disease and irritable bowel syndrome.
From all the dietetics teams
You will be offered an appointment to see a dietitian in clinic, by telephone or in your own home if appropriate. Your first appointment will be slightly longer as the dietitian will be carrying out a full nutritional assessment.
The dietitian will discuss with you why you have been referred and ask you about your normal diet, lifestyle, diagnosis, investigations, and treatment plans. Your weight and height will be recorded along with the details of your previous weights and any changes already made to your diet. If you have been keeping a food diary this would be helpful along with a list of any medication taken.
You will be given advice, information and support including suggested food choices and meal ideas, help with understanding food labels and written information to read in your own time. You will be provided with an individual nutrition action plan with some points to follow until your next appointment
From the Tier 3 Specialist Weight Management for Adults
The tier 3 service will also offer you assessments, treatment plans and programmes of support from the GP with a special interest in obesity, Psychology therapist, and physical activity lead.
Weekly exercise classes especially designed for these patients and nutrition sessions are run on zoom. A bespoke website has been developed to allow access of patients to sessions and access and download advice sheets. The website allows patients to securely download their weight so that the team can monitor their progress.
From the diabetes team
These assessments will often be carried out along with a consultant or GP with specialist interest in diabetes and diabetes nurses.
Patients need to be registered with a Heywood, Middleton or Rochdale GP and referred by either their GP or other health care professional. Referrals can be emailed to the email addresses below. We ask that patients contact us as soon as possible if they are unable to attend their appointment. This will enable us to offer their appointment to another patient. If patients do not attend their appointment they will be discharged from service and will need another referral if they wish to make a new appointment.