Many adults in hospital are given special food supplements if they are undernourished to help their recovery from a variety of conditions, including stomach, bowel and digestive conditions, some cancers, respiratory issues such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and falls and fractures.

These supplements are called oral nutritional supplements and can be in the form of special powders or liquids. When people are discharged from hospital, they may continue to require oral nutritional supplements, but their GP often changes the prescription to a different product.

The Patients Association is working with Abbott, a supplier of healthcare products including oral nutritional supplements, to find out more about people’s experience of having their oral nutritional supplements prescription changed (or a change being proposed by their GP).

We are particularly keen to hear people’s experience of the discussion with their GP about this change and what happened next, whether or not the oral nutritional supplements prescription was changed, including where people were not happy with the change.

By hearing about people’s experiences we hope the process of making changes to oral nutritional supplements prescriptions by GPs and patient involvement in the discussion can be improved.

If you, or someone you know well like an adult relative, has had a discussion with your GP about changing an oral nutritional supplement prescription after leaving hospital, please complete this survey to tell us about what happened.

The survey should take no more than 15 minutes to complete and you don’t need to answer all the questions. All the information you give is collected and stored securely and confidentially, in line with the Patients Association’s privacy policy.

However, the Patients Association also plan to run two focus groups in October to explore the issues in more depth. If you are interested in participating in a focus group you will need to give your contact details at the end of the survey. Focus group participants will receive an £80 voucher for attending and contributing. 

The survey closes on the 30th September 2024.