What is the Home Enteral Feeding (HEF) Service?

We are a community based service which provides dietetic and specialist nurse support for patients who have a feeding tube.

The HEF team includes:

• Dietitians
• Dietetic Assistants
• Feeding company Specialist Nurse Advisors

We work closely with the company who provide your feeds and feeding equipment that you need. We also work alongside the Hospital, District Nurses and other health care agencies in order to provide ongoing, high quality care.

What does the Home Enteral Feeding (HEF) service provide?

• Support and monitoring of your feeding needs
• Training to set up your feed and equipment
• Advice on looking after your feeding tube and stoma site
• Support on discharge from hospital
• Support with any emotional and social aspects of enteral feeding

Who’s it for?

Adults with feeding tubes used for feed- if you are the parent/carer of a child with a feeding tube, please visit the Children’s Nutrition and Dietetics page.

When will I see a member of the Home Enteral Feeding (HEF) team?

Your first contact will usually be with the feeding company specialist nurse advisor who may arrange to visit you within five working days of discharge from hospital. The feeding company specialist nurse advisor will inform the Dietitian what you discussed during the consultation and the Dietitian will then arrange to assess you. After this, a member of the team will review your progress as required, this could be by visiting you at home or by telephone.  We can also use text messaging, video call or email as a way of communicating with you if you prefer.

Please note: If your initial assessment is in person it may last between 60 – 90 minutes. Future visits will usually be shorter.

Please note that we may need to rearrange your appointment at short notice if an emergency arises.

What will happen during a review?

By agreeing to be seen by the HEF team we will assume that you are consenting to treatment from us. We will always discuss any treatment with you and agree on an appropriate treatment plan to best suit your needs.

Things we will monitor and discuss with you:

• Feeding regimen through your tube
• Weight
• Any food or fluid taken by mouth
• Bowel habits
• Lifestyle changes
• Tube and feeding equipment support
• Your stoma site (skin surrounding your tube)

To help us monitor any treatment it may also be useful for us to take a photograph of your stoma site.  We will ask for your consent before doing this.

What will happen when I’ve seen a member of the Home Enteral Feeding (HEF) team?

Information gathered during your consultation will usually be put into a report. This will be entered into a secure computer system that many Leeds GP’s use. Other community based services that are involved in your care may also share access to this information.

Please inform us if you do not wish for your information to be shared with other healthcare professionals.

After a review, your next planned visit will be recorded on the report or verbally agreed with you. A member of the team will contact you in the days beforehand to arrange a date and time that is convenient for you.

When to contact us?

It is important to contact us as soon as you become aware of any problems or changes relating to;

• Your feed
• Your feeding tube
• Your stoma site
• Being admitted to hospital – please ask someone to let us know
• Being discharged from hospital – we will see you at your next scheduled appointment unless your hospital Dietitian contacts us to advise that you need to be seen before this.

Please contact us if you feel that you need to be seen sooner than your next scheduled appointment.

Referrals

We only accept referrals directly from hospital dietitians after tubes have been placed.

How to contact the Home Enteral Feeding (HEF) team:

Telephone on 0113 8430892. Please leave a message on our answer machine with your name, contact number and reason for your call.

Email at efadminleedscommunity@nhs.net

Please be aware that email is not a secure means of communication.  If you require a secure means of communication or need to speak to someone urgently, please contact us by telephone.

Answer machine messages and emails are checked regularly during office hours and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.

Our service is available Monday to Friday (except bank holidays) from 8.30am to 4.00pm.

Out of hours:

If you need help outside of the HEF team office hours, please call Nutricia out of hours help line on O800 093 3672 for telephone advice/support from specialist nurse advisors.

If you have caring responsibilities for a family member/ friend, such as helping with finances, personal care and domestic tasks, we appreciate that this can be stressful at times. If you would like some information or support please contact Carers Leeds Advice Line on 0113 380 4305 and have a look at www.carersleeds.org.uk.

If you have a complaint , concern, comment or compliment, please let us know by speaking to a member of staff at your health centre, clinic or home. You can also call the Patient Experience team (PET). Call 0113 220 8585 (9:30am – 4:30pm, Monday – Friday) or email lch.pet@nhs.net

For Healthcare Professionals:

If you are healthcare professional please visit the Nutricia UK HCP page for e-learning Nutricia UK | HCP Home | Supporting Healthcare Professionals