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Project Updates

This page brings together study updates, answers to questions and practical clarifications to help you complete the ASCEND surveys. Guidance is added as questions arise, so please check here for the latest information, particularly if you are using previously downloaded documents.

If you need support, please contact the ASCEND team—we are happy to help.

29th October 2026

ASCEND upcoming drop-in dates, you are welcome to join us! Ask any question, provide feedback, tell us what support you need.

Wednesday 4 November, 11.30 am–12.30 pm | Project ASCEND – Open Forum (3) | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams

Monday 23 November, 3.30–4.30 pm | Project ASCEND – Open Forum (4) | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams

Clarification (following respondent query): HETF hours where no formal allocation exists

If your role covers several services or specialties, please report only the time attributable to community paediatric home enteral tube feeding (HETF), except where a question specifically asks for your total contracted FTE.

Where there is no formally agreed allocation of contracted hours to HETF, please use the time normally understood within your service to be allocated to this work when calculating your HETF hours or FTE.

For subsequent questions about work ‘beyond contracted hours’, treat any HETF time worked above this allocation as additional time. Please report it separately rather than also including it in your baseline HETF hours or FTE. This is a reporting convention for the ASCEND surveys.

Further guidance is available on page 3 of Important definitions for the ASCEND surveys.

If you are unsure how to apply this to your role or service, please contact the ASCEND team. We are happy to work through an example with you.

Reminder following issues with ‘Completing your survey in stages’ and ‘save to edit’

Please use this pictorial document – it takes you stage by stage through submitting, saving and going back to add or edit your survey responses.

If you are unsure how to apply this to your role or service, please contact the ASCEND team. We are happy to work through an example with you.

20th October 2026

Full list of Base Linkage codes already taken (for new services and their corresponding clinicians, please create your own new Base Linkage code) in the table below. This will be the list containing all base linkage codes from here on, so please return to this notice when checking linkage codes in the future.

Blue skyPink henRed dragon
UnicycleRed folderSaturn grapes
Woodland acornSquirrelApple
Green elephantBlue whaleHummingbird
IkeaBlue skyPink unicorn
Orange applesYellow butterGreen elephant
Blue yetiBlue starfishRose
Pink hippoMultivitaminCapybara
Purple starGreen coconutVelvet sparrow
SunshineSuper teamObscure hike trap
LockGreen unicornsCake regent
Small but mightyPomegranateEnergetic sloth
Leaky roofBig red door

15th October 2026

New additional Base linkage codes already taken:

Squirrel
Red Dragon
Apple
Blue Whale

As a broad reference point for outreach planning—not a regional quota—we are aiming for approximately six Team Survey responses and 22 Individual Clinician Survey responses per nation or region. Some areas will naturally contribute more and others fewer; the priority is to achieve the widest and most representative participation possible. Thank you for your assistance with this.

13th October 2026

ASCEND Drop-in dates, you are welcome to join us! Ask any question, provide feedback, tell us what support you need.

Monday 19 October, 2.00–3.00 pm | Project ASCEND – Open Forum (2) | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams

Wednesday 4 November, 11.30 am–12.30 pm | Project ASCEND – Open Forum (3) | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams

Monday 23 November, 3.30–4.30 pm | Project ASCEND – Open Forum (4) | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams

New additional Base linkage codes already in use:
Green elephant
Blue starfish

10th October 2026

Open for ASCEND Champion applications! See Champions page. Please fill the form highlighted in the introduction and email us your photo, if you wish.

10th October 2026

Base linkage codes already in use
The following base linkage codes have already been selected:

Hummingbird
Blue Sky
Pink Unicorn
Yellow Butter
Rose
Blue Yeti
Capybara
Ikea
Orange apples
Woodland acorn
Green Elephant
Unicycle

If your service is already using one of these codes, please continue using it and ensure that every respondent from your service enters the base code with exactly the same spelling and spacing.

If your service has not yet chosen or used a base code, please select a different one. This will prevent responses from unrelated services being incorrectly linked.

Please keep your service’s chosen base linkage code within the participating team. Do not share it with other services or publish information that connects the code to your service’s identity.

Please remember that your team survey response should be your base code followed by -Team. All individual survey responses from the same service should use the base linkage code followed by a unique number.

E.g.
Tomatoes – team
Tomatoes – 12
Tomatoes – 15

So in this case, there are three survey responses from the same service: one for the team survey, two clinicians with different, unique suffix numbers after the base linkage code.

Please call or email Alia with any queries.

28th September 2026

Base linkage codes already in use
The following base linkage codes have already been selected:

Hummingbird
Blue Sky
Pink Unicorn
Yellow Butter
Rose
Blue Yeti
Capybara
Ikea

If your service is already using one of these codes, please continue using it and ensure that every respondent from your service enters the base code with exactly the same spelling and spacing.

If your service has not yet chosen or used a base code, please select a different one. This will prevent responses from unrelated services being incorrectly linked.

Please keep your service’s chosen base linkage code within the participating team. Do not share it with other services or publish information that connects the code to your service’s identity.

Please remember that your team survey response should be your base code followed by -Team. All individual survey responses from the same service should use the base linkage code followed by a unique number.

E.g.
Tomatoes – team
Tomatoes – 12
Tomatoes – 15

So in this case, there are three survey responses from the same service: one for the team survey, two clinicians with different, unique suffix numbers after the base linkage code.

Please call or email Alia with any queries.

Base linkage codes already in use
The following base linkage codes have already been selected:

Hummingbird
Blue Sky

If your service is already using one of these codes, please continue using it and ensure that every respondent from your service enters the base code with exactly the same spelling and spacing.

If your service has not yet chosen or used a base code, please select a different one. This will prevent responses from unrelated services being incorrectly linked.

Please keep your service’s chosen base linkage code within the participating team. Do not share it with other services or publish information that connects the code to your service’s identity.

23rd September 2026

Complete your survey in stages, when time allows
We recognise that clinical and service pressures may make it difficult to complete an ASCEND survey in one sitting. The surveys have therefore been designed to allow you to submit the information currently available and return to complete or amend your response in stages.

Microsoft Forms will not reliably retain an unfinished response after the survey is closed. To protect the work you have completed and return to the same response, please follow our illustrated step-by-step guide.

Each time you submit or update your response, please follow the guidance to print or save an up-to-date PDF copy. Store the PDF and your confidential linkage code securely, and do not share them with anyone who is not authorised to see your answers.

Please retain your confidential linkage code until at least 31 December 2026.

10th September 2026

Welcome to the ASCEND community!
There are no additional updates at present.

If you have a question or find anything unclear, please contact the ASCEND project team. Your query may help us identify information that would also be useful to other contributors, and any wider clarification will be shared here.

Thank you for taking part. Every contribution strengthens the shared evidence needed to support safer, more sustainable community paediatric HETF services and better care for children, young people and their families.