NUTRITION UPDATE – What’s new?
Summary
- Updated Oral and Enteral Nutrition Formulary Adults and Older Children
- Abbott Ensure® Product Range Review
- Updated Gluten Free Food Formulary
- New Clinical Guidelines
Oral and Enteral Nutrition Formulary - Adults and Older Children – IDDSI updates
- The International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI) is a standardised way to name and describe texture modified foods and thickened liquids for people with dysphagia. Click here for further information. For patients who require fluids at IDDSI levels 1, 2 or 3 and have been recommended to take an oral nutritional supplement (ONS), the Formulary will assist prescribers to select the most clinically appropriate product.
- The Formulary was updated to reflect changes made by the manufacturers to IDDSI categorisation of some ONS products in late 2020. These changes required some patients to have their ONS products altered.
- The Formulary also includes an additional product to complement the SLO MILKSHAKE range (SLO® Milkshake + IDDSI 1).
Abbott Ensure® Product Range Review
- Enhanced prescriber knowledge around the range of Ensure® products can help maximise a patient’s nutritional intake and reduce wastage.
- Ensure® Liquid is a 250ml can providing 1kcal/ml and is currently non-formulary. This is rarely requested by dietitians as there is now a wider range of more clinically appropriate products. The can is a larger volume than the other Ensure® products and only comes in 3 flavours. A recent audit highlighted 70% of prescriptions for this product within a 3 month period were inappropriate.
- Ensure® Shake (57g sachet) and Enshake® (96.5g sachet) are two powdered products which have a very different nutritional profile.
- Ensure® Shake is the first line formulary product of choice in NHSGGC.
- Enshake® is non-formulary.
- Prescribers are encouraged to clarify which product is required if a prescription is requested for Enshake® or states only ‘Ensure®’. It is recommended that the prescriber revert to the requester for product clarification. ScriptSwitch messages are attached to these products to help prescribers adhere to the Formulary choices.
Gluten Free Food Formulary
- Available to view on the NHSGGC Medicines website in addition to the patient gluten free food order form and other resources.
Other nutrition formularies can also be accessed via GGC Medicines: Non- medicines Formularies
New Guidelines
This is a new format and is based on new Scottish Government guidelines for the appropriate prescribing of ONS in adults.
This guideline outlines how patients receive their enteral feeding products on discharge from Acute and in Primary Care.
For further information contact the Prescribing Support Dietitians, tel no. 0141 201 6012 or email: presupdiet@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
Published 01/10/2021. Links updated 09/03/2022.
Medicines Update blogs are correct at the time of publication.