Dietitian shortlisted in national awards for tube feeding experience

Barnsley dietitian Sarah Armer has been shortlisted in the ‘Outstanding contribution’ category of the national Our Health Heroes awards.

Sarah was nominated for the award after she spent four days being fed through a naso-gastric tube to better understand her patients’ experiences. Having been a tube feeding specialist dietitian for 9 years, she wanted to gain a deeper insight into some of the challenges faced by the people she supports.

Now in their fourth year, the Our Health Heroes awards celebrate the thousands of people who work in healthcare, recognising their hard work and efforts. Nominees in the ‘Outstanding contribution’ category demonstrated an ability to act as a role model in the workplace while always encouraging those around them.

Sarah said: “I am absolutely delighted and extremely grateful to have been nominated for this award.  Being tube fed can affect so many areas of a person’s life, and experiencing tube feeding myself provided me with invaluable personal insight into some of the issues faced by some of our patients on a daily basis.

“I have been able to apply this greater depth of understanding, empathy and personal experience to help shape my clinical practice, and hope that patients have benefitted from my first hand insights into their world as I am now much better able to identify with their needs and concerns.”

You can vote for Sarah to win Gold, Silver or Bronze in the ‘Outstanding contribution’ category online.