Dietitian for Older People’s Service

NHS; London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 70,000

Job description

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a driven and dynamic senior dietitian with knowledge and experience in Nutrition for Older People to join our department. This post is based at Whipps Cross University Hospital which has a large population of older patients admitted under a variety of specialities. Therefore, this area of specialism is a primary focus for the hospital. Our department is determined to optimise the nutritional care we provide to our older inpatients and this position is key to our ability to achieve this.

The post has a strong element of leadership and the post holder will be involved at a high level in staff supervision, team leadership, service development and student training. Whilst based at Whipps Cross Hospital within the established team of Dietitians, this post also sits within the broader Dietetic team working across all of the sites of Barts Health. With the breadth of specialisms covered by such a large team this post offers excellent support as well as opportunities to learn and develop other clinical skills. The post holder will also share their knowledge with the wider team of dietitians as well as other staff in the Trust with education in this specialist field. Research and audit are key in providing excellence in care and the Dietetic Team at Barts Health have an active audit programme to which all staff contribute.

Main duties of the job

1. To be responsible for providing highly specialist nutritional care and counselling to older inpatients at Whipps Cross Hospital.
2. To support the junior dietitians in providing a service to older inpatients at Whipps Cross University Hospital.
3. To supervise more junior staff on a day to day basis.
4. To ensure that research and audit is undertaken on a regular basis to ensure that practice is evidence based.
5. To act as an expert resource on the nutritional management of older people and educate and train dietetic students and other health care professionals within the trust.
6. To be actively involved in the trusts clinical governance programme by taking a leadership role in ensuring continuing professional development, audit, research and service development activities within this specialist area.

About us

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation. Having lifted ourselves out of special measures, we now have the impetus and breathing space to chart a fresh course in which we are continually striving to improve all our services for patients.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.

Job responsibilities

We are dedicated to being an outstanding place to work and will work with you to get the best experience. We know flexible working is not a one size fits all and will mean something different to everyone. We are inclusive, so if you are interested in flexible working, please speak to the recruiting manager.

The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment/s below.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• HPC registered
• Teaching Qualification

Experience

• Relevant experience working in Nutrition and Dietetics, including experience within nutritional support.
• Experience of working in the area of nutrition for older people at a senior level.
• Understanding of team dynamics and experience within nutritional support.

Knowledge

• In depth knowledge to expert level in nutrition for older people.
• Understanding of own knowledge and skills and ability to identify learning needs and interests.

Skills

• Experience of delivering undergraduate student supervision and clinical education to graduate standard in area of specialty.
• Experience of Supervision of junior members of clinical staff.
• Ability to work effectively single handedly with individuals and groups.
• Ability to problem solve, analyse complex clinical problems and create practical solutions to provide best clinical care.
• Accurate anthropometric measurements and skills, eg weights, heights, skinfold callipers to assess patients nutritional status and devise clinical plan.
• Regularly undertakes R&D activity, eg. Critical Appraisal.
• Ability to provide highly specialised advice concerning the care of older patients.
• Ability to self-reflect, carry out tasks of own job and identify what s/he needs to learn to be able to do current job better.
• Ability to think strategically in order to inform service development.
• Ability to take an active role in agreed learning activities and keep a good record of them.
• Demonstrate a greater understanding of learning needs and evidence of facilitation skills.

Other

• The ability to communicate with patients in an empathetic manner regarding their treatment and procedures.
• Can demonstrate an enthusiastic, approachable and friendly manner.
• Ability to communicate life threatening/ complex medical conditions in a sensitive and easily understandable language.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with people eg. via advocacy/ interpreters.
• Able to set priorities and meet deadlines in spite of repeated interruptions.
• Flexible, adaptable and creative.
• Able to deal with distressed clients relatives and staff.
• Able to demonstrate enthusiasm towards teaching and sharing knowledge.

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.