Committee, Council & SIG Updates
The Nutrition Society
Email: office@nutritionsociety.org
Website: www.nutritionsociety.org
Twitter: @Nutritionsoc
Instagram: the_nutrition_society
LinkedIn: /nutrition-society
In the year since The Nutrition Society and BAPEN formalised their partnership with an MOU, the partnership between our societies has been managed on our side by The Medical Working Group.
This has been a busy year for the Medical Working Group. Our contribution to the inter-professional group on Medical Education, in which BAPEN colleagues were closely involved, led to a paper 'Putting nutrition education on the table: development of a curriculum to meet future doctors' needs' which has now been published in the British Journal of Nutrition. The paper highlighted the development of the Association for Nutrition (AfN) undergraduate curriculum that will benefit both our future doctors and the thousands of patients they will see during their careers. The medical working group also collaborated closely with colleagues in both BAPEN and ASOUK to publish a commentary and call to action (Also in British Journal of Nutrition) “Long overdue: undergraduate nutrition education for medical students.”
With the return of face-to-face conferences, time seems to have flown by this year and we are looking forward to seeing many of you this month at the annual BAPEN conference in Brighton. Members of the Medical Working Group will be attending and the Society will be hosting an exhibition stand. Please do come and say hello!
Can we draw to your attention several current opportunities arising from our Societies’ partnership.
As well as discounted registration to attend conferences, webinars and workshops, members get free access to a vibrant networking platform that allows offline discussion with other nutrition professionals.
For those of you interested in publishing research, the Society also offers up to 25% APC discount to publish in its gold open-access journals.
The gastroenterologists amongst you may also be interested to hear of the current waiver on all fees to publish in the Society’s latest open access journal, Gut Microbiome. Details can be found here: www.cambridge.org/core/journals/gut-microbiome
The Nutrition Society’s annual Winter Conference later than normal this season to avoid clashing with IUNS. It will take place on 24 and 25 January 2023 at the Royal Society, London, on the very timely topic of “Architecture of Food: Processing, Structure and Health”. We have highlighted several talks within the programme that may be of interest to many of you:
- Ultra-processed food and human health
Dr Renata Bertazzi Levy, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil - Ultra-processed foods and risk of chronic diseases: findings from the NutriNet-Santé cohort
Dr Bernard Srour, Sorbonne Paris Nord University, France - Comparative effects of animal meat and plant-based meat alternatives on markers of cardiovascular and gut health
Professor Christopher Gardner, Stanford University, USA - The role of food structure in gastric emptying rate, absorption and metabolism
Professor Alan Mackie, University of Leeds, UK
In the medium term, look out for conferences on
28-29 March 2023, Glasgow - Diet, health and inequalities
5-6 December 2023, London - Diet and lifestyle strategies for prevention and management of multimorbid
We hope to meet many of you at one of these conferences.
The Medical Working Group
British Intestinal Failure Alliance (BIFA)
Jeremy Nightingale, Chair BIFA
Email: jeremy.nightingale@nhs.net
Website: www.bapen.org.uk/about-bapen/bapen-special-interest-groups/bifa
BIFA has now completed 20 Top Tips articles and Podcasts of these are starting to be made. During the last year a BIFA position statement on 'Liver biopsy in patients on HPN' has been produced and is freely available on the BAPEN web site. At the BAPEN conference 2022, BIFA has organised a session on 'Distal enteral feeding' (including Chyme reinfusion) and another on 'What to do in a home parenteral support out-patient department follow up clinic'. Any ideas for future top Tips articles or guidelines are welcomed.
Nasogastric Tube Special Interest Group (NGSIG)
Wendy-Ling Relph, Chair NGSIG
Email: ngsig@bapen.org.uk
Website: www.bapen.org.uk/about-bapen/committees-and-groups/bapen-special-interest-groups/ng-sig
The NG SIG team have been working hard over the past year juggling their ever-busy day jobs with the passion they have for patient safety relating to NG feeding tubes.
The BAPEN NG SIG web page has been updated and includes our purpose, member names, contact details and links to specific work streams. There are links to:
- Our NG position paper: ‘Time to put Patient Safety First’
- The latest Never Events data from NHS England
- The HSIB (Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch) report on NG safety
- Novel Technology Assessments
- NNNG Good Practice Guideline on Safe Insertion and ongoing care of patients with NG feeding tubes.
A large piece of work has been the development of a Novel Technology Assessment Guide. The purpose is to provide a brief overview and assessment of novel tech devices available for guided tube placement. Currently two systems have been included, but more are planned. The literature review and main bulk of this work has been undertaken by members of the BDA Critical Care Steering Group, which we thank them for.
We are working closely with Dr Damian Tolan and NHSE on the development of a competency-based training programme for radiographers and wider healthcare staff, to determine NG position checks when reading chest x-rays. Further updates will be provided at the BAPEN Conference at the end of the month.
Group members are also involved with supporting the national development of guidelines for children and young people with eating disorders, requiring NG feeding and restraint. Providing information to HSIB on potential further investigations into nutritional care. Supporting the development of further literature reviews and research by the stroke research team at Lancaster University.
We are looking forward to supporting the NNNG Symposium at the BAPEN conference: ‘Exploring NG Never Events – is NGT standardisation the answer in the modern NHS?’
We look forward to seeing you there.
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