Nutrition support and intestinal failure service
We treat, support and offer advice to patients with complex gut disorders. You may be referred to us after surgery or disease that decreases your ability to absorb nutrients or fluids effectively.
As a regional specialist treatment centre, we care for patients referred from Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, the Isle of Wight, East and West Sussex, Surrey and Berkshire. We work with patients during their stays in hospital as well as supporting them whilst at home via outpatient clinics.
Our service includes the intestinal failure unit, which is an inpatient unit at Southampton General Hospital on ward F11. The unit has 17 beds, split over 10 single side rooms and two single sex bays. Here, we provide specialist care for patients during periods of assessment, acute illness and after operations.
We also have a range of outpatient services and clinics. There is a weekly nutrition clinic where patients are able to see doctors, nurses and a dietitian, and a weekly intestinal failure dietitian clinic.
Our consultant gastroenterologists are internationally renowned, and respected experts in their field. Patients across the region are referred to our specialist colorectal surgeons who perform surgery to help patients stop needing intravenous nutrition or complex medication regimes.
Research
We have strong links with the University of Southampton, and its Institute of Human Nutrition. Our service also has a research fellow post, providing an opportunity for senior training doctors to undertake research into this area. Each of these projects aims to improve care and experience for our patients.
Useful information
You may find these external websites useful:
- Crohn’s and Colitis UK - a charity for people affected by inflammatory bowel disease.
- IA - a UK charity for people who undergo surgery for the removal of their colon and the creation of an ileostomy or ileo-anal pouch.
- PINNT - a patient run support group for people receiving artificial nutrition.