PD523 - ONGOING INSIGHTS INTO THE ADULT HOME ENTERAL TUBE FEEDING (HETF) POPULATION

PD523

ONGOING INSIGHTS INTO THE ADULT HOME ENTERAL TUBE FEEDING (HETF) POPULATION

H. Harrison¹, L. Freeman², M. Y. T. Li^2,*

¹Nutrition and Dietetics, Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle Upon Tyne, ²Nutrition and Dietetics, Gateshead NHS Foundation Trust , Gateshead, United Kingdom

Rationale: Authors were interested to know whether the population of the Adult HETF caseloads were changing in relation to aspects such as age, diagnosis and feeding route.

Methods: A team of dietitians developed a cross-sectional survey.  The survey was disseminated across the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Results: Response Rates: The survey received 250 responses from HCPs, representing a total of approximately 26,118 adult HETF individuals.  Primary Diagnosis: The survey results show that 94% or more of survey respondents manage patients with Neurological conditions, Oncology GI and Oncology-other as their primary diagnosis. These primary diagnoses groups now comprised half or less of adult caseloads. Tube Type: Gastrostomy feeding tubes remain the most frequently used tube type from the survey results with 25% of respondents stating that 75% of their caseload have this type of enteral device in situ.  Survey results do however suggest an increase in short term enteral tubes.  Almost all respondents, 96% had supported service user/s with a jejunostomy feeding tube in situ.  Blended Diet: Only 5% of respondents did not have any service users on their caseload receiving any volume of blended diet.

Conclusion: There are no current, large-scale surveys of the UK and Republic of Ireland HETF adult caseloads.  The positive response rate would suggest there is an appetite for this information within managing teams. 

        - More research is required around HETF adult age demographics, authors feel this could reflect a transition towards a younger adult HETF population.

        - Future surveys of the Adult HETF population could focus more closely on the primary diagnosis of HETF populations.

        - Future research could consider the use of jejunal feeding.

        - The results of this survey suggest that the use of Blended Diet in the Adult population is now widespread, and this is likely to be an area of significant interest in Adult HETF.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared