Nutrition and Swallowing Awareness in Palliative Care for Non-Registered Staff

This session will be delivered by Alex Haslam-Jones (Dietitian and joint AHP Lead) and Emma Paulett (Speech and Language Therapist and joint AHP Lead).

Alex is a Specialist Dietitian and joint allied health professional lead at Dorothy House. She has extensive experience in palliative and end of life care, service development, and clinical leadership. Alex leads a diverse team of Allied Health Professionals, supporting high quality, person centred care and driving service improvement. She is passionate about workforce development, multidisciplinary working, education, and using evidence-based practice to improve outcomes for patients and families. 

Emma is a Specialist Speech & Language Therapist and joint Allied Health Professional lead at Dorothy House. She has a range of experience working with people with acquired swallowing and communication difficulties, specialising in palliative and end of life care and complex decision making around eating and drinking. In her role as joint AHP lead, Emma provides a supportive environment for staff, encouraging innovation, education and service development.

Non-registered patient facing staff e.g. H@H carers, HCAs, CSAs.

Attendees will develop an evidence based understanding of nutrition and swallowing (dysphagia) management in palliative care.

By using a mix of teaching methods the course aims for attendees: 

• To have an understanding of how to recognise swallowing difficulties  

• To know what the IDDSI framework is and to be able to recognise how the levels should look  

• To be able to support patients with safer swallowing strategies 

• To have an understanding of some basic nutrition concerns in palliative care and be able to offer first line advice around poor appetite.  

• To be able to recognise different types of nutritional supplements and understand their usage 

• To know when to seek further support with management of nutritional or swallowing needs