Today, one of BAPEN’s Core Groups, PENG, celebrates its 40th anniversary. Over the years, PENG has gained national and international reputation as a recognised authority on both practical and academic aspects of nutritional support. Today, PENG strives to support its network of dietitians to deliver excellence in nutritional care through appropriate oral, enteral and parenteral nutrition.
Linda Cantwell, Chair of PENG, commented:
“It’s an honour to be PENG chair as it celebrates this fantastic 40th anniversary milestone. In 1984, following some initial meetings by a pioneering group of dedicated and enthusiastic dietitians, PENG was formally established as a specialist group of the BDA. These dietitians were extremely passionate about creating a dietetic speciality dedicated to nutrition support. Dietetic nutrition support interventions provided the opportunity to improve patient and clinical outcomes. They saw the key role and opportunities that dietitians had to tackling the growing problem of malnutrition and the need to support the dietetic workforce through education and leadership to meet the demands of the advances in artificial nutrition, particularly that of home enteral nutrition at the time. In 2002 PENG was one of the founding core groups of BAPEN demonstrating how far this group had come in establishing dietitians within the nutrition support MDT.”
PENG’s study days in Liverpool, 26th and 27th September, are at the award-winning venue, Spaces at The Spine, and will celebrate excellence in nutrition support over the past 40 years. The study days represent a unique collaboration with five different specialist groups to explore complex issues relating to enteral and parenteral nutrition support within a range of clinical conditions. There will also be a celebration 40th birthday party in Liverpool on Thursday 26th evening at Oh Me Oh My situated by of the iconic Liverpool Liver Buildings and Albert Docks, where all PENG friends and colleagues are invited to join for an evening of food, drinks and music.
