As we speak to more Health Care Professionals about the new International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative terms and the possibility of adopting them, we are concerned there is going to be confusion and drinkers will be put at risk.

The issue is the original consistency terms: Stage 1, 2 and 3.

These are so well known and so close to the IDDSI numbers, prescribers and users will not know which consistency is the right one. We feel this will be a significant problem in care facilities or places with multiple carers.

To help avoid this we suggest prefixing numbers with Stage to indicate using the original terms or IDDSI to indicate the alternative system and qualifying it with familiar terms.

We think this should make the transition easier and are therefore redesigning all our packaging to list the existing consistency terms and the new IDDSI ones. We have created this poster showing how they relate.

Please print it off and pass it on if you think it will help.