Feeding Tube Awareness Week 2024 - how tube feeds help people to live, grow and thrive!

This week marks the 2024 Feeding Tube Awareness Week (4-10th February 2024) taking place worldwide - designed to encourage people to talk about their experiences with tube feeding and raise awareness.

Each year we seek to raise awareness of the positive benefits of feeding tubes which are a simple piece of medical equipment, used for both children and adults for a variety of conditions but which can represent a lifesaving medical intervention.

Tube feeding is the process of supplying nutrients to people who are unable to eat or drink orally via a tube through the nose or directly into the stomach and there are a wide range conditions where tube feeds enable people to receive their necessary nutrition. There are an estimated 40,000 adults and children in the UK relying on tube feeding.^[1]

As well as home tube feeding for long term health conditions, other reasons why a patient may have to use a feeding tube for a shorter period include preparing for or recovering from surgery, a condition which may improve e.g., stroke, or those in intensive care.

Feeding tubes are required when nutrient requirements cannot be met by regular food intake. This can be a consequence of many clinical conditions, including illness, decreased appetite or difficulties in swallowing.

BSNA members have a wealth of experience in developing not only the tube feed formulas, but also the feeding tubes and equipment required for safe feeding. These feeds are highly regulated and used under medical supervision across a wide range of settings such as hospitals, care homes, clinics and private homes.

While there is little awareness of tube feeding for most people, for those patients who rely on them, tube feeds make it possible for them to receive appropriate access to the nutrition they need.

As we celebrate #FeedingTubeAwarnessWeek, BSNA supports the campaign’s focus on embracing the positives and being thankful that feeding tubes help people to live, grow and thrive!

#FeedingTubeAwarenessWeek2024

^[1] British Association of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, “Report on UK enteral nutrition and oral nutrition supplement supply”, PENG and BANS report on behalf of BAPEN, August 2022.