About our service

Our Paediatric Nutrition and Dietetic service provides specialist nutritional assessment, advice and support for children and teenagers from birth to 16 years (or up to 19 years if in a specialist school).

We encourage healthy eating, and provides specialist advice to children and families with underlying health conditions. This information is designed for families, and is generalised advice, appropriate for most. We hope that this information can help you make more informed decisions about your child's diet, or signpost you to further online information. If referred into our service by a health professional, such as your GP or Health Visitor, a dietitian may provide more specific advice for your child as an individual, within an appointment.

How to access our services

We provide a service for patients who meet our referral criteria in the Durham and Chester-Le-Street, Durham Dales, Derwentside, Sedgefield and Darlington localities. If the child or young person's GP falls under the Easington locality, please refer to the North Tees and Hartlepool dietetics department.

Please ensure all relevant information is included as stipulated in the referral document to avoid delay in processing and/or the referral being rejected due to insufficient information.

Our paediatric team supports the following conditions:

  • Faltering growth (weight loss)
  • Home Enteral Feeding
  • Gastrointestinal disorders (Coeliac Disease)
  • Food Allergies
  • Diabetes

Please see the patient referral criteria for more information.

Weight Managment: The Nutrition & Dietetics team do not accept referrals for children's weight management (obesity), but Healthcare Professionals can refer patients into the Paediatric Weight Management Service via a seperate referral form. They accept children with a BMI above the 99.6th centile, or above 98th centile with co-morbidities / aged under 2 years.

Referrals can be completed by healthcare professionals working with the child or young person. Once referrals are received, they will be reviewed by our team and if accepted, one of the following will happen:

  • A partial invite letter will be sent and parents/carers can choose to call in for an appointment and will be added to our waiting list
  • Resources will be sent and parents/carers will have the option of calling in for further information/an appointment
  • Where clinical need indicates, the child/young person will be booked in for urgent assessment

Most appointments are currently via telephone, although we have limited face-to-face clinics where necessary.

If we are unable to accept the referral, or while waiting for an appointment, please take a look at our patient information below.