Future Challenges for Renal Dietitians:
Primary Care and New Ways of Working
Debbie Sutton, Portsmouth
It seems unlikely that there will ever be
the number of specialist renal dietitians required to provide the standard of
care outlined in the Criteria For Success document.
Specialist renal dietitians will always have a role, but collaborative working must be the way
forward.Finding effective ways of
working with other dietitians, particularly in the field of diabetes and heart
disease as well as offering clinical supervision to dietitians in District
hospitals who are increasingly likely to meet renal patients are both
strategies that could be developed.
Dietetic Assistants already do important work in many units. Renal
nurses and Support Workers who have regular contact with patients could be more
than a conduit for referrals. There could be more support enabling them to
recognize problems and start to tackle them.
Most non-renal dietitians are already working with diabetic, hypertensive and overweight
patients, a minority of whom will become renal patients.
An exchange of skills and knowledge between
us and them would be of benefit to both.
In the field of prevention, changes in diet and lifestyle are all about
motivating behaviour changes that can be sustained.
Community dietitians working in Primary Care are ahead of us
here.But some of their messages will
sound contradictory to patients when they reach us.
We need to work together to agree an approach that will suit the
majority, but not confuse the minority.