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Nutrition in cancer

Checked: 02-01-2025 by Vicky Ryan Next Review: 01-01-2027

UHBW

UHBW have specialist dietetic outpatient support which is available for any patient with a cancer diagnosis receiving treatment / therapy under an UHBW consultant.

The service can support patients with a diagnosis of cancer who have nutritional concerns/problems as a result of cancer or cancer treatment. Some examples include:

Weight loss or a poor appetite
Weight gain associated with their treatment
Difficulties eating with cancer and treatment related side effects e.g. sore or dry mouth, taste changes, fatigue, swallowing difficulties
Gastrointestinal symptoms e.g. diarrhoea, constipation, wind, bloating
Pancreatic insufficiency related to cancer, requiring pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy
Eating well & diet if you have a stoma
Eating well when living with cancer & beyond
Weight gain associated with their treatment

Nutrition in Cancer Clinic - referral pathway

They can offer one to one appointment over the phone, on video call or face to face.

Clinics are held at South Bristol Community Hospital, Bristol Haematology & Oncology Centre, Weston General Hospital.

UHBW have a webpage for public use which has information about healthy eating in cancer, food safety advice, managing side effects of treatment and cancer, frequently asked questions and useful links to resources and other webpages. www.uhbristol.nhs.uk/dietandcancer

Referrals

Complete standard referral form or send a letter, including additional detail such as weight, weight history, height, BMI, nutritional concern, as this will help the dietitians to efficiently triage the referral.

Email to: AdultDietitianscancer@uhbw.nhs.uk Bristol area

westondieteticsoutpatient@uhbw.nhs.uk Weston area

Alternatively, please post to:

Outpatient Dietitians Cancer Referral

Nutrition and Dietetics

Adult Therapies Department A804

Bristol Royal Infirmary

BS2 8HW

Telephone: 0117 342 7360 Bristol area or 01934 647031 Weston area

We are unable to offer a prehabilitation service and therefore would encourage you to read/ signpost online dietary information with your patients.

Diet and Cancer

Prehab Nutrition - SWAG Cancer Alliance

NBT - Macmillan Cancer Dietitian

Please note we are NOT CURRENTLY ACCEPTING patients with a diagnosis of an UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL MALIGNANCY. Please refer to your local dietetic service, which can be found under ‘Dietetics and Nutrition’ on Remedy.

For other cancer diagnoses, Dietitians provide nutritional advice as part of the Proactive Project: Personalised Prehabilitation and Rehabilitation for people affected by Cancer.

We are able to support individuals with the following nutritional concerns:

Coping with a poor appetite, or unintentional weight loss
Urgent nutritional support for cancer/treatment related side-effects
Altered texture diets due to swallowing difficulty
Making dietary changes as a result of cancers affecting the digestive tract
Managing weight following completion of cancer treatment – acceptance criteria will apply
Specialist support for individuals with an upper gastrointestinal cancer
Eating well to support your health for the future

Referrals

Please see here for Professional Referral Form (available on EMIS).

Email: proactiveproject@nbt.nhs.uk

Telephone: 0117 414 5550

Efforts are made to ensure the accuracy and agreement of these guidelines, including any content uploaded, referred to or linked to from the system. However, BNSSG ICB cannot guarantee this. This guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer, in accordance with the mental capacity act, and informed by the summary of product characteristics of any drugs they are considering. Practitioners are required to perform their duties in accordance with the law and their regulators and nothing in this guidance should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.

Information provided through Remedy is continually updated so please be aware any printed copies may quickly become out of date.