Dietitians help patients self-manage their conditions and make prevention possible.
How can Dietitians support patients?
- enable patients to self-manage their conditions
- make ‘prevention’ possible in primary care
- manage prescribed medicines effectively and efficiently
- manage the prescribing of Nutritional Borderline Substances (NBS) products such as gluten free foods, oral nutritional supplements, enteral feeds and infant formulae
- reduce the need for expensive referrals to secondary care and the need for hospitalisation
- utilise technology effectively
- be part of the multidisciplinary primary care home team
How do Dietitians support GP practices?
Many patients that have previously require a lot of time and support from GPs have been shown to be effectively treated by dietitians e.g. obese patients, patients with diabetes, IBS and malnourished patients. Advanced dietitians can train to become supplementary prescribers and prescribe medicines that the patient would otherwise have to see the GP for.