Community Nutrition and Dietetic Service

What our service does

This is an NHS run service offering dietetic input to children and young people with complex needs and children on home enteral tube feeding (children who are not fed orally).  We provide highly specialist dietetic assessments, treatment and advice to children who live or go to school in the borough of Haringey.

This Dietetics service addresses the nutritional and hydration needs of children with highly complex special needs resulting from conditions such as cerebral palsy or extreme prematurity.  Dieticians monitor nutritional intake (calories) and, growth in children with complex needs and help to prevent and treat conditions such as diarrhoea, vomiting, constipation and reflux.

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Who our service provides for

We see children with neuro-disabilities such as cerebral palsy, or with specific syndromes such as Prader Willi, and children with Autism for one-off advice.  We also see premature babies with feeding difficulties.

We see children who live in Haringey aged between 0-18 years old or 0-19 years old if they attend Special School.

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How a child or young person can start using the service

We accept referrals from any medical professional, paediatric dieticians, therapists, and specialist health visitors.

We have a waiting list of between 2-12 weeks depending on the urgency of the child’s dietetic need.

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How decisions are made about eligibility for our service

Children who have significant difficulties with their eating and drinking due to their physical needs will be seen within 4 weeks.

Children who are being discharged from hospital will be seen within 2 weeks.

Children with very selective eating such that it affects their growth and weight gain will be seen within 12 weeks.

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How we communicate with service users and how they are involved in decision making/planning

We work closely with children and parents/carers to identify realistic goals and how they can be achieved.  We recognise that some of our service users may need alternative forms of communication and we use interpreters when necessary.

We work together with other health, education and social care staff to ensure that the child and family needs are met.

We welcome feedback from our service users and actively seek information about their experiences through surveys and listening to feedback and comments. We then use this information when planning changes and improvements to the service.

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How accessible our service is

Our child development centre is situated on the ground floor and is wheelchair accessible with wheelchair-accessible toilets and treatment rooms. It is a user and child-friendly environment.

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Who a parent carer/young person can contact for further information

Each child will have a named dietician who will be able to help families with information about their individual needs.

We can be contacted on 020 8442 6845.

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