Over the last year, the BDA has ramped up its campaign to extend independent prescribing rights to dietitians nationwide, and now they need your help. Dietetics Today spoke to campaign lead, Sarah Laverty, and members of the campaign working group about what’s been happening with the campaign, and why dietitians should get involved.
Sarah joined the BDA as Policy and Campaigns Officer for Northern Ireland in June 2024 and took over the independent prescribing campaign soon after. “I had the chance to choose which of the UK-wide campaigns I wanted to run and I picked this one because it has such a clear, practical goal which will make a real difference to dietitians and their patients.”
Having spent a decade working in policy, campaigns and communications, Sarah brought plenty of experience to the organisation, but she had a lot to learn about the world of dietetics. “This was my first role in the health sector, so it was a big adjustment! I spent the first few months just listening really closely to the experiences of dietitians who are supplementary prescribers and who have to deal with the challenges of it on a daily basis.
“I was also very aware that I was walking into an ‘active’ campaign – the BDA has been working on these issues for a long, long time and there’s already a wealth of experience in the organisation. I didn’t want to start reinventing the wheel, but I knew that I was in the unique position of being a fresh pair of eyes. Pulling the working group together was really important – I would be lost without them!”
The campaign working group is made up of eight supplementary prescribing dietitians. All four nations of the UK are represented in the group, and many of them also help to run the Prescribers Specialist Sub Group.
“Having the opportunity to be proactive with promoting dietetic prescribing is so important to me and is essential to advancing dietetics in the future, so I had to get involved.” said Laura Troiano, who works as a Community Clinical Dietetic Team Lead and Prescribing Support Lead, “Helping to achieve a four-nation approach with our independent campaign group was the next natural necessary step. It is essential that all work together to move this forward.”
The group worked together over a few months to pull together a campaign strategy. “With a campaign like this, which requires legislative change and co-operation from government, there can sometimes be a feeling of ‘doing lots of stuff’ but not getting anywhere.” said Sarah. “That can lead to a loss of motivation over time. Building a clear strategy with key areas of focus is important, not only to ensure we use our resources in the most effective way possible, but also to sustain the energy of the people involved.”
The team’s strategy consists of four complimentary areas:
- Building influential relationships with key governmental figures in all four nations.
- Effectively engaging with coalitions, such as #PrescribingNow.
- Collecting evidence of support and solidarity (for example, through petitions, and open letters).
- Building the evidence case in preparation for a future consultation.
Over the last few months, the team have been meeting with government officials to discover the top priorities when it comes to arguing the case for change.
“The key now is demonstrating that as a profession we are willing to qualify as non-medical prescribers and demonstrate how the qualification has improved patient care.” said Alison Culkin, Chair of the Prescribing Specialist Sub-Group.
“The mood music is good.” Sarah added. “The Ten Year Plan offers lots of opportunities for us to emphasise the importance of dietetic led services, and independent prescribing is very complimentary to those models. But it’s also been made clear to us that demonstrating that dietitians are using their existing prescribing rights is a really important piece of the puzzle – so we need to collect plenty of evidence to support that.”
On 18 September 2025, the campaign launched its latest action, a call for case studies from dietitians who are supplementary prescribers. They’re looking for stories about times when dietetic prescribing made a real difference, the challenges that supplementary prescribing poses and the opportunities if independent prescribing became a reality.
Sarah said, “Change often doesn’t happen because of cold hard facts alone – it happens because people feel connected to the issue and emotionally motivated to support it. Health is such a massive area that this part of the campaign is less about just winning the argument and more about gaining attention in such a busy political environment. For that, we need to make it real for people, and help them to deeply understand why this matters.”
The form will be kept open until April 2026 and contributors are welcome to submit more than one case study. The team plan to use the case studies in their lobbying work with decision makers.
Laura Troiano said, “We need a collective approach with this to make our voice as strong as it can be. If we all contribute and collaborate it will make our case for independent prescribing strong, robust and help create a clear case for the necessary legislative change.”
“We’re not looking for really detailed, heavily evidenced pieces of research,” said Sarah, “We want to hear about your real life experience – so even just a few sentences are enough!”
You can support the campaign by submitting your own case study.
