Nutrition and dietetics
Overview
Dietetics and dieticians
Dietetics is a branch of therapy that focuses on using the diet, and the nutrition provided by food, to prevent disease and improve health problems.
Dieticians are therefore experts in diet and nutrition. They give practical advice on how to change a diet to meet health needs and, in NHS hospitals, they design dietary plans and hospital food to help rehabilitate patients to full strength.
These dietary experts are an important part of patient rehabilitation, as it’s often a process that needs special dietary input - especially for those with a reduced ability to chew or eat food due to illness, swallowing problems or tube feeding.
What do dieticians do at Barnet, Chase Farm and the Royal Free hospitals?
NHS dieticians at the Royal Free London are trained to graduate level and provide specialist dietetic input into the following areas:
- Cancer
- Critical care
- Gastroenterology
- Health services for elderly people
- Hepatology and liver care
- Neurosciences (including stroke, neurology and neurosurgery)
- Paediatrics
- Renal care
- Surgery
As part of the healthcare team our dieticians provide care for people in the community too, as well as in hospital, by providing nutritional advice and how nutrition can be used as part of the overall treatment of medical conditions.
For more details about the role of dieticians visit the British Dietetic Association
British Dietetic Association patient leaflets
- Measuring height remotely (pdf)
- Measuring length remotely (pdf)
- Measuring weight remotely (pdf)
Contact
Do you have an appointment?
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Barnet Hospital
Wellhouse Lane
Barnet
Hertfordshire
EN5 3DJ -
Chase Farm Hospital
The Ridgeway
Enfield
Middlesex
EN2 8JL -
Edgware Community Hospital
Burnt Oak Broadway
Edgware
Middlesex
HA8 0ADEnquiries: 020 8952 2381
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Royal Free Hospital
Pond Street
London
NW3 2QGEnquiries: 020 7830 2127
Patient leaflets
Read our patient leaflets and publications
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Low fibre diet
.pdf (165 KB)
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Advice for kidney patients: Eating with a small appetite
.pdf (489 KB)
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Advice for kidney patients: Eating with a small appetite (Large Print)
.pdf (265 KB)
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Eating well with dementia
.pdf (187 KB)
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Eating well on a IDDSI level 5 (minced and moist) diet
.pdf (207 KB)
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Food diary (for adults)
.pdf (163 KB)
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Children’s food diary
.pdf (262 KB)
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Approved: 01/11/2021
Fortifying a vegan diet
.pdf (189 KB)
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Approved: 01/11/2021
How to cope with changing food tastes caused by your treatment or condition
.pdf (631 KB)