DiSP-Child NS
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploratory study of the impact of a change in prescribing practice of nutritional supplements for children with neurodisabilities
IRAS ID
313748
Contact name
Jodie Owen
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Birmingham Community Healthcare Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 31 days
Research summary
Neurodisability is an umbrella term which encompasses many different conditions such as cerebral palsy, brain injury, autism, epilepsy and learning difficulties. Children with neurodisabilities frequently require nutrition support due to variety of issues, for example swallowing issues, gastrointestinal issues, food refusal or selective eating or increased nutritional requirements due to their medical condition. Some children will not have these issues, some may have them in isolation, where some children may have several issues which impact on their nutrition. Children with these needs will be managed by a multidisciplinary team including a paediatric dietitian. To meet their nutritional requirements, children will be assessed by a dietitian and may need to have additional nutritional supplements. These supplements are only available on prescription because their use needs to be appropriately monitored, as with any prescription only product. Children either take these supplements orally (Oral Nutritional Supplements (ONS)) or enterally via nasogastric tube (NG Tube) or gastrostomy tube (percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG)), or a combination of these methods. Importantly, the prescription is recommended by a dietitian but prescribed by a GP, which can result in delays to the products being issued, or incorrect products being prescribed, a challenge which we believe significantly contributes to the burden of care experienced by these families and is the focus of this research.
This study will assess how streamlining the pathway of obtaining prescriptions for nutritional products directly from a dietitian impacts on the families and carers of children with neurodisabilities who require nutrition support.
Within this study, the parent/carer will be the participant as they are responsible for accessing the patient’s prescriptions. In Birmingham Community Healthcare Foundation Trust (BCHC) there are two paediatric dietitians who are qualified as dietitian supplementary prescribers. Parents/carers have been given the choice to move to dietitian supplementary prescribing to obtain prescriptions for nutritional products. Parents/carers who are using dietitian supplementary prescribing will then be asked to take part in initial qualitative interviews about their experiences with GP prescribing, and after six months of dietitian supplementary prescribing the parent/carer will be interviewed about the new pathway.
Parents/carers will be asked about their views on future research about dietitian supplementary prescribing. The dietitian supplementary prescribers will complete a reflective piece documenting their experiences and insights gained from prescribing for patients.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/EM/0228
Date of REC Opinion
11 Nov 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion