About this role
Job summary
***Important Sponsorship Information for this post: We are currently unable to offer a certificate of sponsorship for this post***
The Highly Specialist Dietitian will be responsible for the integration and provision of a comprehensive and quality dietetic service for all service users.
The post holder will use expert knowledge and experience to educate and support patients and their carers regarding their dietary management and sustaining behavioural change.
The post holder will provide specialist nutritional and dietetic training, support, clinical assessment and education to nurses and other members of the multi-disciplinary teams.
The Highly Specialist Dietitian will contribute to further service development, policy writing and lead on delegated service development projects.
This role will work across the dietetic caseloads providing a co-ordinated dietetic service for patients registered with a GP in the Royal Borough of Greenwich who are allocated to the Home Enteral Nutrition, Food First and Primary Care dietetic caseloads.
Main duties of the job
The Home Enteral Feeding Dietitian will be responsible for the delivery of a Highly Specialised Home Enteral Feeding dietetic service to patients referred for enteral nutrition via a tube.
The dietitian will also be responsible for providing support and supervision to the Malnutrition service staff (Food first, Primary care and Home Enteral Feeding). The post holder may be operationally responsible for work that impacts on dietetic service provision and be able to advise appropriately.
To deputise on the day-to-day operational management of the dietitians, assistants and staff working in the Greenwich Malnutrition service. This may include e.g. managing referrals and waiting lists, appropriate cover for clinics and home visits, creation of team rosters and timetables, authorising annual leave requests and regular local team meetings.
About us
Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children's centres, schools and people's homes.We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.
Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:
We're Kind We're Fair We Listen We Care
Job description Job responsibilities
Management responsibilities
Support the Team Manager, Head of dietetics and Service Lead for Assessment and Rehabilitation in the delivery of an efficient, cost effective and high quality Nutrition and Dietetic service, demonstrating and awareness of financial constraints of budgets for supplements/ prescriptions in the in- and outpatient setting. To demonstrate excellent organisational skills and responsible for maintenance of patient records and care plans to comply with departmental and trust standards. To manage and prioritise own caseload and workload independently. To supervise and support the role of the junior dietitians, dietetic assistants and students as appropriate within the departmental structure. To be flexible to the demands of the environment including unpredictable work patterns, deadlines and frequent interruptions To attend relevant training and development in order to maintain and develop skills and knowledge required of a highly specialist therapist working in the service area of dietetics and maintain up to date HCPC registration Report to the Service Lead for Assessment and Rehabilitation and to contribute to the effective running of the dietetic service and the Nutrition and Dietetic department. Working with other Dietitians within the dietetic team to further develop the dietetic services. Contribute and participate in departmental CPD and learning activities e.g. journal clubs and case presentations. To jointly develop dietetic/nutrition policies, procedures and guidelines for the dietary treatment of patients in the borough of Greenwich in conjunction with the dietitians and Head of Profession. Leadership To ensure that local and trust policies and procedures are adhere to within the Malnutrition service. Formal performance, sickness, absence and capability management will be referred on to the Service Lead for Assessment and Rehabilitation/Team Manager for effective staff management measures. To communicate effectively and update the Team Manager and the Head of Dietetics of developments within the service. To provide a comprehensive, effective, evidence based dietetic service to a range patients referred to the Home enteral feeding services. To demonstrate highly specialist knowledge in the area of Dietetics, underpinned by current evidence based practice. To work autonomously to provide expert nutritional and dietetic advice to patients referred to the service under the care of GPs and other healthcare professionals. To work in a variety of locations including outpatients, in-patient bedded units (mental health and intermediate care units only), primary care settings and patients own homes. To actively lead on the education and clinical updating of all medical, nursing and support staff (this includes dietetic staff & students), in the area of speciality. Be responsible for the full dietetic care of patients referred to the service including biochemical and anthropometric monitoring and the assessment of nutritional status and requirements based on anthropometric, clinical, and biochemical parameters. To make highly specialist clinical decisions following assessment of complex cases by calculating and interpreting nutritional requirements and advising on the most appropriate method of nutrition support. To provide and coordinate a highly specialised clinical dietetic caseload within the borough. To coordinate the management of the caseload and clinical reviews across the community and transition to services in and out of borough. To provide clinical supervision, advice and support to the junior members of the team and contribute to the identification of their future training/development needs. To employ highly developed communication skills both verbally and written. Demonstrate excellent presentation skills for delivery of talks, training and presentations. To be flexible and cover part of the workload of other dietitians during leave of absence if required. Freedom to act interpreting the Health Professions Council Code of Conduct and working to all agreed standards, policies and procedures within the department and Trust. Clinical To be an expert source of nutritional advice for patients/carers, nursing and other health professionals and advising on appropriate prescribing of oral nutritional supplements and enteral feeding products.
To perform anthropometric measurements including; weight, height and calculating BMI and interpreting and recording this information in the dietary assessment and care plans. To develop individual patients centred care plans based on nutritional diagnosis including interpretation of biochemistry, anthropometry, clinical condition, growth parameters, medication, diet history, family and social history. To modify nutritional prescriptions based on the nutritional status of the patient and informing the care homes, GP, community medical- and nursing teams of the relevant changes. To advise on the safe prescribing of vitamin and mineral preparations for the caseload. To educate and support patients and their carers, through planning and organisation, regarding their dietary management. To assist in the development of evidence based nutritional education materials in collaboration with other dietitians, which will take into consideration barriers to communication e.g. translating complex nutritional guidelines into simple messages for the general public; addressing particular barriers such as social, cultural, religious, language and economic factors. Using highly specialist knowledge and communication skills to contribute to the development and evaluation of complex care pathways / protocols within the multi-disciplinary team. To maintain and develop links with the tertiary and secondary care to ensure continuity of care for patients. To advise medical, nursing, dietetic colleagues and other professionals on the evidence based principles of nutrition and dietary management of nutritionally related conditions. To have a working knowledge of relevant procedures including: Safeguarding Children, Working with Vulnerable Adults and other legal frameworks. To attend specialist short courses, network meetings and advanced training within Dietetics and related to service areas. Research Initiate and participate the collection of departmental and trust wide quality initiatives e.g. Patient satisfaction survey, clinical outcome measures and service delivery. To be prepared to initiate and take a lead role in research/ audit/ Quality improvement (Qi) and development activities within field of dietetics with the Head of Profession, and to assist in the evaluation of current practice. To comply with Trust and national guidelines in all audit and research activities, insuring appropriate procedures and assurances are in place. To present findings of audit and development activities to the team in order to contribute to service and professional development. Where appropriate to present information to other therapy teams or outside agencies. To provide support and encouragement to other staff undertaking research or development activities. Continually evaluates own work and current practices through the application of the available evidence base. Communication Be skilled in a range of verbal and non-verbal communication tools, including the use of interpreters. To communicate effectively with patients and carers/guardians to ensure quality and safe dietary treatment is agreed. To provide feedback to the Team Manager, Head of Profession and Service Lead for Assessment and Rehabilitation and participate in departmental innovations with regard to development of risk management, quality standards and clinical effectiveness as appropriate To provide nutrition counselling skills and to communicate with all service user within a diverse multicultural population where there might be barriers to communication. To adapt complex information from different situations and people using negotiating and motivational techniques where there may be barriers to understanding and compliance. To maintain sensitivity at all times to the emotional needs of the client, carer and colleague when managing distressing situations such as safeguarding issues and exposure to terminal illness. To write timely accurate reports and letters, reflecting highly specialist knowledge, to all members of the team including liaising with the GPs regarding the on-going treatment and prescribing of nutritional supplements. To assist in the development of evidence-based nutritional education materials in collaboration with other dietitians. To take into account barriers to communication e.g. translating nutritional advice and messages for the general public. Ensuring that particularly attention is given to ensure social, cultural, religious, language and economic factors are accounted for. Develop and provide nutrition education and training to professionals and community groups within Greenwich and provide effective health promotion/community development activities. To have highly developed computer skills for data entry and computer literacy e.g. Word processing, presentation packages incl. PowerPoint and spread sheets e.g. Excel. On Call/Unsocial Hours
Currently the service does not require unsocial working hours, however, if the service needs change then there will be a need to cover unsocial hours and weekends on a rota basis.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications Essential
Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics HCPC Registration as a Dietitian Post-graduate training or equivalent relevant experience
Desirable
Registered member of the British Dietetic Association Member of a specialist interest group
Experience Essential
Minimum 3 years post qualification experience Significant experience of working with Home enteral feeding Experience of dietetic service delivery in various clinical settings Experience of multi-disciplinary and inter- agency working Experience in clinical supervision of junior members of staff and students Demonstrates highly developed motivational and counselling skills to effect change Experience in delivering group education for clients/ patients Experience of conducting Audit and Research Knowledge of cultural, social and religious needs of diverse population to support dietary change
Skills, abilities and knowledge Essential
Excellent knowledge of Clinical Dietetics Knowledge of relevant national guidelines, frameworks and policies Excellent time management, organisational skills and ability to prioritise caseload Able to work independently, as part of a team and flexibly to meet service needs Effective interpersonal skills inc. problem solving and negotiating Recognise limits of own authority within the role and seek professional support appropriately Computer literacy- familiarity with dietary analysis programs, word processing, database management
Effort and Environment Essential
Appropriate use of anthropometric equipment To deal sensitively with clients that may be suffering from conditions that may lead to heightened behaviour To work in an environment where work patterns may be disrupted by frequent demands from clinical staff, assistants and administrative staff To be exposed to unpleasant working conditions, which may involve exposure to bodily fluids such as vomit, urine, saliva and unpleasant smells
Desirable
Car driver with current valid driving license
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details Employer name Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Address Memorial Hospital
London
SE18 3RG
United Kingdom
Employer's website http://oxleas.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)