Critical Care Specialist Group - The Path to Recovery: Integrating Nutrition and Rehabilitation in Critical Care

Hosted by Critical Care Specialist Group

Our 2025 annual study day is a face to face only event and this year we will be highlighting the vital importance of rehabilitation in critical care, with a particular focus on nutrition. 

We will be providing an update on the recent NCEPOD report on rehabilitation following critical illness, presenting a case study of a long stay patient, discussing missed opportunities on discharge from critical care and more!

We will also be running our popular 'year in review' session, where we critique the most important nutrition in critical care papers over the last twelve months, as well as showcasing work from around the country with our research award presentations, a fantastic opportunity to learn from other dietitians in the midst of clinical practice. 

Our annual general meeting (AGM) will also take place at this event for members of the CCSG to attend and hear more about what we're up to including updates on some of the projects the CCSG have been involved in over the last year!

We love meeting you all in person, and this year we are offering our event in person only to allow for more of us to network and learn from each other. We plan to record this event. Attendees will be sent the recording afterward, as long as the technical quality is sufficient. For those who cannot attend in person, the recording will be available for purchase on the BDA shop a few weeks after the event (subject to successful recording). Please do not purchase a ticket if you are unable to attend, as it is valid for in-person attendance only.

Speakers and sessions

• Rehabilitation following critical illness - NCEPOD update presented by Professor David McWilliams, Professor of Critical Care and Rehabilitation at Coventry University. 
  
  Talk summary: This talk will review showcase the recent NCEPOD report 'Recovery Beyond Survival'. Surviving a period of critical illness if just the beginning, with patients often left with significant mordity and complex rehabilitation needs. This talk will present the reports major findings and highlight the shortfalls in current rehabilitation delivery, alongisde the recomendations and key areas for improvement. 
  
  More about David - David McWilliams is a Professor of Critical Care and Rehabilitation and Clinical Academic Physiotherapist.  David is recognised as an international expert on critical care physiotherapy and rehabilitation.  He is chair for both the physiotherapy working group for the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, and the Intensive Care Society National Rehabilitation Collaborative.  He was a member of the guideline development group for the NICE guideline ‘Critical Illness rehabilitation’ and quality standard on the same topic, and recently led the NCEPOD report 'Recovery Beyond Survival'.
• Missed opportunities on discharge with nutrition presented by Dr Sarah Vollam, Post-doctoral research at University of Oxford.
  
  Talk summary - Despite considerable advances in critical care, patient outcomes following critical illness remain poor. In addition, both patients and the staff looking after them find the post-ICU in-hospital period stressful. This programme aims to design and test an in-hospital enhanced care pathway for critical care survivors, with the aim of improving recovery. This session will cover the background work which led to this programme, and the work planned to develop and test this pathway – focusing on the challenges of nutritional support.
  
  More about Sarah - Sarah is a Senior Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of Oxford. She has a critical care nursing background and leads a programme of research aiming to improve in-hospital care for critical care survivors. Sarah is an outgoing Associate Editor for Nursing in Critical Care and Deputy Chair of Intensive Care Society's National Rehabilitation Collaborative. She is also a Visiting Fellow at Oxford Brookes University. As well as improving care for patients, Sarah is passionate about supporting nurses, midwives and allied health professionals to develop careers in research.
   
• Case study 1 of a long stay ICU patient presented by Hannah Roberts, critical care dietitian, Lewisham
   
• Case study 2 of a long stay ICU patient presented by Maria Alcaide, Critical care outreach dietitian, Leicester
   
• Year in review: recent research in critical care nutrition presented by Bethan Jenkins, Critical care dietitian at University Hospital Southampton.
  
  Talk summary - Nutrition in critical illness: a year in review 2025. A summary of key ICU nutrition research published this year.
  
  More about Bethan - Bethan is the lead acute adult dietitian at University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust. After graduating from the University of Surrey she initially worked as a renal dietitian then moved to specialise in critical care dietetics in 2013. Since 2022 she has managed the team of adult acute dietitians at UHS, providing leadership for a team of around 50 dietitians and assistants.  Alongside her clinical and management work Bethan has works one day a week in a research role. Her research areas of interest are enteral feeding intolerance and barriers to delivery of nutrition.
   
• An introductory, practical guide for dietitians initiating enteral ketogenic diet therapy in adults on intensive care units presented by Farah Suleman,Specialist Neurology Dietitian
  
  Talk Summary - Farah will be introducing the tool An introductory, practical guide for dietitians initiating enteral ketogenic diet therapy in adults on intensive care units, which she helped compile alongside a team Specialist Dietitians in the area of critical care and adults Ketogenics
  
  More about Farah - Farah Suleman has worked in the area of Neurosciences for the past 15 years covering areas such critical care, Neurosurgery and Hyperacute Neuro-rehab and current specialising in the area of Neurology.  Farah works at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and is a committee member of the British Dietetic Association’s Neuroscience Specialist Group
   
• Current evidence on protein intake and mobilisation – how can we apply this in practice? presented by Zheng-Yii Lee, Senior Lecturer, Anaesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Malaysia
  
  Talk summary - My talk will review current evidence on early mobilization, protein dosing, and the combined effects of early mobilization with higher protein delivery on clinical and functional outcomes in critically ill patients. The focus will be primarily on findings from randomized controlled trials and their implications for current practice.
  
  More about Zheng-Yii Lee - Zheng-Yii Lee is a dietitian and researcher specializing in critical care nutrition, with over 50 peer-reviewed publications in the field. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition and Nutrition, and leads the “Critical Care Nutrition Systematic Review” initiative. 

• ICU nutrition and rehabilitation from the dietitian’s perspective presented by Niamh Chess, Major Trauma Dietitian    
  
  Talk summary - My talk is on the dietitians perspective of nutrition rehabilitation whilst in critical care, in this I plan on speaking about common nutritional issues seen in patients post ICU, looking at both research and my own experiences. We will talk about nutritional impact symptoms, what to look out for and some practical tips on how dietitians can help manage these. The talk will also look at the output of the ICU follow up special interest group of the CCSG and what is recommended for those working in the follow up setting.     
  
  More about Niamh - Niamh is a highly specialist dietitian working in St George’s Hospital, the major trauma centre for S.W. London. She is passionate about nutrition in the ICU and for rehab, and promoting the key role dietitians have in these areas. She enjoys working with the other members of the MDT and finds major trauma is perfect specialism to do this. She has worked across all areas, from prehab to ICU follow up and understands the importance that nutrition has in a patients journey. She has recently developed new guidelines for dietitians working in the major trauma field, and is keen to advance her clinical practice further by developing skills in NJ placement and IC measurements.

ICU nutrition and rehabilitation from the patient perspective – ICU Steps session presented by Dr Pamela Page, ICUsteps trustee

Talk summary: 

The role of ICUsteps as a UK charity supporting people during and post critical illness. Three key workstreams:

·        Support groups

·       Information (including three information leaflets covering nutrition at home, nutrition in hospital and tips to help with eating problems)

·       Research

The talk will be complemented by Alex Bastin (online) ICUsteps trustee with lived experience. Sharing the challenges of surviving critical illness and his experience of re-establishing drinking and eating.

More about Pam - As a registered nurse with 40 years’ experience in both clinical critical care and critical care education I am passionate about improving the quality of life during and post critical illness for ICU survivors and their families.  My doctoral work (2012-2016) revealed that many ICU survivors have little recall of the factual events of their critical illness, but relatives have lived the whole event in a very real and ingraining manner. This can result in family members and survivors experiencing very different versions of the critical illness episode. As a Churchill Fellow (2019) I visited ICUs in the USA, Australia and New Zealand to witness best practice in ICU survivorship in support of critical illness survivorship here in the UK. I was invited to join ICUsteps as a trustee in 2020. The Charity exists to support people and their families so that they can thrive and not just survive critical illness.

 Agenda: 

Sponsored by

Cost

• Critical Care Specialist Group Member £75
• BDA Member £100
• Non Member £150
• BDA Student Member and Member of Critical Care Specialist Group £25

Admin code: SLA