Sarah Brownlie, NNNG Communications Officer
Email: nationalnursesnutritiongroup@gmail.com
Website: www.nnng.org.uk
Instagram: nationalnursesnutritiongroup
Twitter: @NNNGUK
Members only Facebook Group/discussion board: NNNG (National Nurses Nutrition Group)
Linkedin: National Nurses Nutrition Group (NNNG)
This year marked another fantastic NNNG conference in the beautiful city of York. It was a delight to share a fantastic evening and jam-packed day with not only passionate Nutrition Nurses, but members of the wider Nutrition Community. It felt so promising to see Nutrition at the forefront of the Multidisciplinary Team mind as we welcomed Occupational Therapists, Community Childrens Nurses, students and many more!
As all delegates arrived in the evening, the buzz of chatter soon filled the air. As Nutrition Nurses, we are often aware a Nutrition Nurse role can vary between trusts and so the opportunity to hear from each other and think of dynamic ways of working is always a key aspect of conference - one which we as a committee consider invaluable.
Once new friendships had been formed over a welcomed drink, Committee member, Ben Booth, welcomed us all into a relaxed evening of fun. We were reminded how artificial nutrition (AN) enables a quality of life by the vibrant retired Doctor Jeanine Helliwell. We were then joined by the fabulous Philip Shelley, Chair of the NHS Food Review, and NHS Chef Andrew Politi to create some fantastic smoothies. Three candidates created their own recipes: “The Jack” inspired by a patient who loves to add dessert to a blended diet, “The Chairs Choice” which was remarkably green and “Supercalorificexpialidocious” which, as you can guess, had ALL the calories. “The Jack” became a resounding winner by our taste testers and our social media community online! The fruitful evening left us ready for a day of learning together.

Day two was kickstarted with a blended diet discussion, before we were welcomed to the main part of conference by the NNNG Chair, Natalie Welsh. Highlights of the day included a showcase from PINNT, and I would encourage any Healthcare Professional to watch their educational promotional video:
Throughout the day we visited patient experiences and looked deeper into Motor-neuron Disease (MND) decision making, eating disorder emergency guidelines, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), and bariatric care. Overall, the feedback from conference evidenced people had a fantastic time and really valued a space to talk to like minded individuals. Thank you all for joining us and I hope you have received your CPD certificate.
The future:
If you have any thoughts or ideas please don’t hesitate to get in touch: info@nnng.org.uk
Carolyn Wheatley, PINNT Chair
Email: comms@pinnt.com
Website: www.pinnt.com
Facebook: @PINNTcharity
Twitter: @pinntcharity
Instagram: @pinntcharity
Address: PO Box 3126, Christchurch, Dorset BH23 2XS
Telephone: 020 3004 6193
Home Artificial Nutrition Awareness (HAN) Week took place 7-13 August 2023. It was a Week full of stories and activities.
Click here to find out more.
Linda Cantwell, PENG Chair
Email: peng@bda.uk.comm
Website: www.peng.org.uk
Twitter: @BDA_PENG
Instagram: @BDA_PENG
Welcome to the PENG summer update 2023 for InTouch, an opportunity to highlight some of PENG recent activities and future events and opportunities.
June
On 1st June PENG collaborated with the Critical Care Specialist Group (CCSG) on a half day online study day ‘Pancreatitis in Critical Care: A complex nutritional journey’. This focused on the nutritional journey of patients with pancreatitis with an emphasis on oral, enteral, and parenteral nutrition (PN), and the complexities of nutritional management. It was great to collaborate with the CCSG and we look forward to more in the future.
From 12th-15th June, PENG completed its first face-to-face MSc Clinical Update Course since 2019 back at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. Eighty delegates representing dietitians working across the UK from a range of clinical areas in enteral and PN support attended the four-day residential programme. There was great feedback during the week, and the PENG clinical tutor team are currently planning for 2024. Opportunities for PENG members to apply for one of three free places will open at the end of the year.
April
In our evening webinar series, our PN Lead Lisa Gemmell presented the results of the PN competency survey during the webinar ‘Parenteral Nutrition Competencies: The past the present and the future’. She was joined by an expert panel of speakers: Kirstine Farrer, Alison Culkin and Nicky Wyer – presenting the history of the development and progression of the dietetic role within the management of PN. If you missed this, catch up with recording on the recording here: www.bda.uk.com/specialist-groups-and-branches/parenteral-enteral-nutrition-specialist-group/webinars.html
September
On the 12th September our student Dietitian committee member Rhiannon Bullen will host ‘An Introduction to Enteral Nutrition.’ This is an evening webinar targeted at students or newly qualified dietitians. This event is free for PENG student members. To sign up please visit www.bda.uk.com/events/calendar/peng-student-webinar-enteral-nutrition.html
October
Our annual study day will be on Friday 6th October at The Studios, Birmingham, with a virtual ticket option also. The topic will be complex enteral nutrition covering of the journey from acute to community. Tickets are only £15 for PENG members. To register please visit www.bda.uk.com/events/calendar/parenteral-enteral-nutrition-specialist-group-annual-study-day.html
November
PENG are looking forward to BAPEN Conference in Edinburgh 28th-29th November.
PENG will be hosting the symposium on Jejunal Feeding and Jejunostomys on Tuesday 28th and co-hosting the symposium on Blended Diet with BSPGHAN on Wednesday 28th. Please see BAPEN conference programme for full details www.bapen.org.uk/pdfs/annual-conference/2023/symposium-topics.pdf
Members of the committee will also be at the PENG stand and supporting many of other aspects of BAPEN conference we look forward to seeing you there.
PENG Award: The PENG Award is an annual supportive educational grant sponsored by Abbott, Fresenius Kabi and Nutricia who each give £500 sponsorship to support 3x PENG members to attend BAPEN conference. To apply you must submit an abstract to BAPEN conference and select consideration for PENG award. Unfortunately, the PENG award for 2023 is now closed and winners will shortly be announced. Please look out for the award-winning abstracts at BAPEN 2023.
ESPEN Award: PENG has awarded a £1000 educational award to Sarah Andersen to attend ESPEN congress in September with her abstract ‘Feasibility of Prebiotics Enteral Nutrition Provision During Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation.’ Please look out for the opening of this award again in January 2024.
BDA research symposium: PENG has had 10x100 educational bursaries available to PENG members to attend the BDA research symposium on Wednesday 6th December.
PENG Clinical Update Award: PENG supports 3x annual education awards for PENG members to attend the PENG MSc Clinical Update Course. Opportunities for this will open again towards the end of the year please follow us on twitter for updates: @BDA_PENG.
We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate a number of PENG committee members on their recent achievements.
If you are a PENG member and would like to get more involved with PENG, we specifically we will soon have a vacancy for student member, for more information please do get in touch, peng@bda.uk.com.
Priya Mistry, Chair of the BPNG
Email: priya.mistry5@nhs.net
Website: www.bpng.co.uk
BPNG have continued to push their education agenda this year. We had a successful Fundamentals in Parenteral Nutrition (PN) study day in Leeds in March and contributed to educational talks at the Clinical Pharmacy Congress in London in May 2023. We have also continued with our very successful free educational webinars covering a range of relevant topics:
Check our website: www.bpng.co.uk for further information on future webinars. The next event will be in late September.
We are also planning our symposium and BAPEN conference in Edinburgh this year. We are excited to have some interesting presentations related to prescribing in nutrition support:
Please do come and visit us at the BPNG stand at BAPEN in Edinburgh. We are also hoping to launch our updated Drugs via Enteral Tubes materials at this event. We are also offering a BPNG member fully paid registration to attend BAPEN this year.
After our successful Fundamentals in PN study day we are now planning our Advanced course to be held in Birmingham in January 2024. We are hoping to cover challenges in the provision of PN. The date and full agenda are to be published on our website shortly: www.bpng.co.uk. Please look out for early bird offers!
Dr Philip Allan, BAPEN Medical Chair
Email: Philip.allan@ouh.nhs.uk
Website: www.bapen.org.uk/about-bapen/bapen-core-groups/bapen-medical