Dietician at Hereford Hospital

What is a dietitian?

A dietitian is a qualified and regulated healthcare professional who assesses, diagnoses and treats problems with diet and nutrition. They use up-to-date scientific research on food, health and disease to give people practical guidance on their food and lifestyle choices.

What conditions does a dietitian help with?

Dietitians can help you if you're living with a health condition, recovering from illness, or simply want to improve your wellbeing. They support people with conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disorders, malnutrition, food allergies, and kidney or cancer-related nutrition needs.

They can also help if you have difficulty swallowing, or if you need artificial nutrition, such as tube feeding, because you're unable to get enough nutrition by eating normally.

What are the benefits of seeing a dietitian?

Seeing a dietitian can help you manage a health condition, recover from illness, or simply feel more confident about your food choices. Because their advice is based on up-to-date scientific evidence and tailored to you, it's more reliable than generic diet advice you might find elsewhere.

Are there different types of dietitian?

Dietitians can specialise in particular areas, and there are more than 30 different specialisms to choose from. These include working with specific age groups, such as babies or older people, or specific conditions, such as kidney disease, cancer, food allergies, or nutrition support for people who can't eat normally.

Some dietitians work mainly in hospitals, others in the community, in people's own homes, in care homes, or in clinics.

What happens before you see a dietitian?

You're usually referred to a dietitian by a doctor or nurse, for example if you've lost the ability to swallow safely, or need nutritional support because of an illness or a planned or recent operation. Some dietitians also see people who refer themselves, particularly in private practice.

What happens during an appointment with a dietitian?

A dietitian will assess your situation, which usually includes your medical and surgical history, your current diet and eating habits, and relevant test results. They then agree a personalised plan with you, which might include changes to what you eat and drink, nutritional supplements, or in some cases a prescription.

Dietitians also teach people about nutrition, which might happen in one-to-one appointments or in group sessions. Follow-up appointments usually focus on checking your progress and adjusting your plan if needed.