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Are you passionate about the care of the adults and children with nutritional disorders and nutrition support and looking to for a career in Dietetics in the NHS?
This post is ideal for a someone with interest and qualifications in nutrition and dietetics who are ready to work in a busy and teaching environment.
Do you like working in a supportive department which emphasises high quality patient care, quality improvement and work life balance?
You will be joining a forward-thinking department which is valued and respected throughout the Trust.
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the growing team of 29 Dietitians, dietetic assistant practitioner and dietetic assistants, as a Dietetic Assistant Practitioner working across nutrition support, CMPA, respiratory, care homes, dementia both in outpatients and inpatients.
As a valued member of our team, you will receive
Flexible working, including the opportunity to work compressed hours and home working
Dedicated time for professional and service development
Access to a range of CPD opportunities both internally and externally
Regular performance appraisals, job planning and personalised development plans
Clinical and professional supervision and support
The opportunity to participate in policy and pathway development, audit, research activities and training of students, staff and health care professionals
- The post holder will support the dietitians in delivering an efficient and effective nutrition and dietetic service, working with children and adults to deliver to acute and community patients.
- Work within multidisciplinary teams to improve nutritional care to patients.
- As Dietetic Assistant Practitioner to hold a designated clinical caseload, working within agreed dietetic protocols under supervision from the Dietitians.
- The post holder will be required to develop and review group sessions with supervision and independently those group sessions to patients, carers and healthcare professionals.
- Plan and deliver training and health promotion activities, participate in evidence-based audit and research projects to further own and teams’ clinical practice in dietetics.
- The post holder will be required to manage clinical teams task group timely.
- The post requires good communication and IT skills and ability to overcome communication barriers when dealing with individuals with visual and hearing impairment, partial paralysis, dysphasia and dementia.
- Actively participate in all department and appropriate multidisciplinary team meetings as directed by the dietetic team, by giving presentations, presenting reports, chairing and taking minutes, in order to contribute to the clinical development of the team.
- The post requires the ability to manage time, prioritise and be adaptable and work effectively within a team.
At North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust our main priority is, and always will be, to provide safe and high quality care to our patients every day; the kind of care we would want for ourselves and our loved ones. We want our organisation to be the best place to work with the right staff, in the right roles, at the right time, to ensure we deliver exceptional patient care and experience.
We will support staff through providing an inclusive and supportive workplace with health and well-being initiatives, staff benefits and opportunities for personal and professional development. Staff recognition is very important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Star and Team of the month, colleague recognition – a note of thanks, Managers Awards, Shining Stars and Service Awards.
We recruit for values and “Together we are North Tees & Hartlepool”
Key Relationships:
- To work with the dietetic team and acute wards to support the ward discharge of patients on oral nutritional supplements, liaising with community teams to ensure smooth seamless discharge and appropriate prescribing within ICB guidelines for managing malnutrition in the community.
- To be an active member of the Trust’s Nutrition and Hydration Steering Group as directed by Dietetic team senior representation.
- Working with the dietitians, to plan, deliver and evaluate projects, educational sessions, health promotion activities and group activities with service users and staff.
- To deliver highly responsive services within Nutrition and Dietetic Services ensuring effective communication is maintained across multidisciplinary teams. The post holder working within the Nutrition and Dietetic team for North Tees & Hartlepool, will liaise with medics, ward staff and other health care professionals both in acute and community setting, catering staff, dietetic and therapy assistants and student dietitians using good interpersonal skills, in delivery of quality dietetic care.
- To liaise with service users, carers and relatives, also community services e.g., GPs, community nurses, other primary health care professionals and relevant interagency staff, and use good interpersonal skills, in delivery of good quality dietetic care.
- To help to plan, deliver and evaluate evidence-based audit and research projects to further own and teams’ clinical practice in dietetics.
- To recognise the limitations of the role and seek advice and support of the wider team as and when required.
Core Functions:
Key Results and deliverables:
- To deliver an efficient and effective nutrition and dietetic service in paediatric and adult services in acute and community settings, working within departmental pathways and supervision of registered dietitians.
- To work within current Professional (BDA Assistant Practitioner Curriculum 2014; BDA Code of Professional Conduct 2017), Trust, and departmental standards, policies and procedures and to contribute to the further development of standards, policies and procedures.
Administrative Responsibilities
- To manage clinical teams task group, ensuring they are timely actioned or signposted to the right clinician. The post holder might need to manage a shared email inbox too and be able to work in multiple systems simultaneously (e.g., SystmOne and Outlook).
- To order oral nutritional samples as requested by dietitians.
- To work autonomously demonstrating effective time management and prioritise individual workload, balancing patient caseload and non-patient related work demands.
- Maintain good record keeping skills in patient record cards in line with departmental standards. Document clear instructions in health care records ensuring documentation is accurate, legible, complete and confidential records are handled securely and stored in the correct place. Also, to ensure the appropriate precautions are taken when communicating confidential or sensitive information to those who have a right & need to know it.
- Communicate appropriately and effectively to staff, service users and their family members / carers in group education sessions.
- To be proficient in using electronic systems both for clinical purposes and admin support tasks.
- To work extended days and as part of a seven-day service as and when required.
- Working across both hospital sites, attending departmental meetings and involvement in training, projects and health promotion activities.
- To work flexibly with the dietetic team in meeting the needs of the dietetic service, to provide an equality of service across the Tees Hospitals Group in both the acute and outpatient settings.
- To enable cover as required.
Clinical Responsibilities
- To hold a designated clinical caseload under the supervision of a registered dietitian, working within agreed nutrition and dietetic pathways by undertaking routine nutritional assessment as agreed with the dietitians.
- To provide information to the service users, carers and relatives and implement care packages in line with agreed departmental pathways, using interviewing and negotiating skills, provide regular feedback to the supervising dietitian.
- Monitoring the progress of patients receiving dietary intervention, to assess patient’s nutritional needs against set criteria for future management and act accordingly i.e., discharge, further review, and referral to other services.
- To obtain anthropometrical measurements such as weight in order to calculate and assess the BMI and MUST score or growth charts of service users.
- Review service users using oral nutritional supplements and specialised infant formulas and work in line with departmental guidance and ICB guidelines for appropriate prescribing in the community in adult malnutrition and infant CMPA.
- Support the ward discharge of service users on oral nutritional supplements while ensuring appropriate prescribing within ICB guidelines for managing malnutrition in the community.
- Actively review or assess adult service users on oral nutritional supplements who are care home residents or attend outpatient clinics while ensuring appropriate prescribing within ICB guidelines for managing adult malnutrition in the community.
- Prepare for and undertake the protective interventions that they are responsible for in a manner that is consistent with evidence-based practice and maintaining patient safety.
Management and Leadership Responsibilities
- The post requires the effective time management, prioritisation skills, flexibility and the ability to work effectively within a team.
- To support the registered dietitians in the provision of support, advice, and supervision to Band 2 and 3 staff and students, and where appropriate contribute towards the formal supervision / appraisal process of these staff.
- Maintain personal and professional development to meet the changing demands of the job, participate in appropriate training activities.
- Participate in review of own performance regularly and development of personal development plan at least every 12 months.
- Take responsibility for own actions.
- Recognise own personal strengths and weaknesses and identify appropriate strategies to enhance the strengths and overcome or minimise the weaknesses.
- Apply personal effectiveness skills in terms of time management, prioritisation, resource management, self-motivation and team work.
Policy and Service Development
- The post holder will be expected and encouraged to make suggestions to contribute to quality improvement within the Nutrition & Dietetics service.
Research and Audit Responsibilities
- To contribute to quality improvement projects and clinical audit within the team.
- To collect statistical and other workload data, as requested by senior staff necessary for the planning, performance and target monitoring of the service.
- To contribute to nutrition and hydration related audits as directed by team leader.
Managing Resources Responsibilities
- To contribute to resource development within the supervision of dietitians (e.g., leaflets for service users or training packs).
- To support clinical teams to keep their resources ready and up-to-date (e.g., managing departmental approved leaflets database, preparing resource packs.
Education and Training
- To support the induction of new staff and students within the service. To help support dietetic student training e.g., by providing induction to clinical setting, training in clinical services or admin processes and having students shadow clinical or group sessions.
- To contribute to the planning and provision of relevant clinical support and training for student training, dietetic assistants, dietetic assistant practitioners and dietitians.
- Support developing, planning, delivering and evaluate projects, group educational sessions, health promotion activities and group activities with service users, carers, dietetic staff, students and other professionals medical and non-medical.
- To ensure own work objectives and personal development plan is discussed with Dietitians on an ongoing basis. To take responsible action to update knowledge and skills by attending appropriate study events, in-service training and mandatory training by ensuring personal study time, and to apply learning of new knowledge and skills to the development of the nutrition and dietetic services, and to receive clinical supervision on a regular basis.
