Are you passionate about paediatric dietetics and looking for an opportunity to develop your specialist skills?
We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated Band 6 Specialist Paediatric Dietitian to join our friendly paediatric dietetic team at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
This is an exciting opportunity to work with babies, children and young people across our paediatric inpatient and outpatient services. You will manage your own caseload, including children with complex needs, working closely with families and the wider multidisciplinary team to provide high-quality, evidence based and individual nutritional care.
You will be joining service where dietitians are valued members of the paediatric MDT and where there are opportunities to develop your clinical expertise while also contributing to education, quality improvement and the continuing development of our paediatric services.
As a Band 6 paediatric dietitian you will work autonomously, while being supported by the Paediatric Team Lead Dietitian and the wider dietetic team.
You will be committed to evidence based practice and continuing professional development, and enthusiastic about contributing ideas to improve the service.
You will be joining a supportive dietetic service with opportunities to develop your paediatric knowledge and skills, and to make a real difference to the care of children and their families.
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is a large
acute and specialised hospital trust that provides a range of local acute
services to the residents of Worcestershire and more specialised services to a
larger population in Herefordshire and beyond.
The Trust operates hospital-based services from
three sites in Kidderminster, Redditch and Worcester
Our workforce is more than 7,000 strong, and our
caring staff are recognised as providing good and outstanding patient-centred
care. You could be one of them.
We are committed to recruiting the best people to
work with us. Our values, which we ask all staff to demonstrate, underpin our
everyday work and remain firmly at the heart of all we do.
We are committed to developing a culture of continuous improvement by embedding the principles of our Improvement System.
We are proud to have achieved Timewise
accreditation - this means we are committed to embedding flexible working
within our organisation as a flex positive employer.
Any applicants who are offered posts requiring a
DBS check as part of their employment check will have the cost of this check
(at the current rate) deducted from their salary. Please see link in Supporting
Information section for more details on DBS checks and costs.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Patient/client care:
To
independently manage a defined caseload of paediatric inpatients and
outpatients, including children with complex nutritional needs
To
undertake comprehensive nutritional assessment
To
asses and manage malnutrition, faltering growth and other complex nutritional
problems within the post holders scope of practice
To
be professionally and legally accountable for all aspects of practice,
including the management of patients receiving treatment
To
function as an autonomous practitioner, working within codes of practice and
professional guidelines when providing advice to patients on therapeutic diets
To
use clinical judgement and work in partnership with parents with formulating
care plans for home
To
accept clinical responsibility for own caseload of patients and organise this
effectively
To
prioritise caseload of inpatients and to ensure timely dietetic intervention
To
provide specialist advice individually tailored to meet the needs of the
children and families in the paediatric unit
To
involve parents/guardians in decision- making for their treatment
In
collaboration with the Team Lead Paediatric Dietitian formulate and update
parent information sheets, specific topics for
use by dietitians and other healthcare professionals to ensure information is
evidence based
In
collaboration with Team Lead Paediatric dietitian develop and implement
nutrition and dietetic guidelines in clinical areas based on current best
practice
To
clinically supervise junior colleagues, assistants and students on placement and
to provide peer support to Band 6 colleagues
To
co-ordinate a safe and effective discharge/transfer of patients from hospital; organising
for equipment and feed to be delivered for those who need to continue on an
enteral feed after discharge
To
attend team meetings and participate in on-going development of the service
To
provide and promote a quality nutrition and dietetic service within available
resources
To
ensure patient confidentiality is maintained at all times
To
deliver staff and parent group education sessions
1.
Profession
specific clinical duties
To provide specialist dietetic expertise to staff and
nutritional advice to patients on the paediatric unit
2.
Communications
To
engage with parents and MDT in treatment planning decisions
To
formulate a treatment plan jointly with the patient/parent/guardian, providing
written information where appropriate
To
communicate effectively with the multidisciplinary team, parents and guardians
regarding the dietetic component of care, to ensure a seamless service
To
maintain accurate documentation on-going patient care, including phone contacts
in accordance with professional standards
To
ensure patients are given dietitian's name and telephone contact
To
communicate with healthcare professionals in implementing Trust wide nutrition
related policies
To
liaise closely with dietitians and health care professionals in other hospitals
whenever there is a transfer of patient's care or shared care
To
work with healthcare professionals to help improve dietetic care and patient
experience
To
use computer skills to produce and retrieve clinical information, to
communicate to colleagues. and for presentations
3.
Education and
Training
To
maintain own clinical professional development by a variety of means e.g.
attending postgraduate training courses, journal reviews in order to maintain
up to date clinical knowledge
To act as a source of dietetic expertise and
provide up to date information in specialist areas
To educate and update health care professionals
on topics linked to paediatric nutrition
To disseminate and implement British Dietetic
Association specialist statements
To
participate in staff appraisal scheme as both appraiser and appraisee
To
be appraised annually and agree objectives for the year and a personal
development plan taking into account personal objectives with regards to
education and development and Trust objectives including management and service
issues
To
attend study days linked to clinical supervisory skills and student training
To
assist with the student training programme in the department, acting as
clinical educator
To
be responsible for teaching dietetic students to graduate level on dietetic
skills and knowledge within core clinical areas
To
give tutorials on clinical topics to students and colleagues
To
supervise and guide junior staff to deliver a high standard of clinical care
To
contribute to multidisciplinary training programmes linked to nutrition in the
Trust and occasionally to external organisations
To
participate in paediatric training sessions to educate and update health care
professionals in the Trust on nutrition related topics e.g. to Nutrition Link
Nurses, medical students
To
continually reflect on own practice and improve quality of care through
innovative ideas
To
participate in the induction and integration of new staff and students
To
continually reflect on own practice and participate in peer review
4.
Organisation and
Management
To
prioritise workload and manage own patient caseload
To
monitor number of contacts received each month and audit to help develop an
effective dietetic service
To
assist in managing the service within the resource allocation, reviewing and
modifying work practices to maximise effectiveness
To
help review the paediatric referral criteria for dietetic input and assist in
the management of the workload
To
contribute to the pro-active monitoring and review of the nutrition &
dietetics service
To
provide statistical information regarding workload as required for managerial
purposes
To
implement a system for monitoring to maintain an adequate stock of diet sheets
To
assist the paediatric lead dietitian in the resolution of service and clinical
complaints through investigation, review and practice change where indicated
To
participate in paediatric service development projects
5.
Clinical
Governance
To
allocate time to implement clinical governance projects linked to CPD
To
contribute to resource development in department e.g., presentations on
nutrition related topics, nutrition related articles & developing training
aids
In
collaboration with the paediatric lead dietitian update diet sheets and
guidelines by researching evidence-based practice
To
collate comments and update departmental policies and procedures to ensure they
are evidence-based
To
contribute to the implementation of clinical governance in the department
To
participate in events linked to promoting dietetics in the Acute Trust
To
undertake literature search/article critique and present findings at
departmental meetings
To
carry out clinical audit and present results to promote evidence-based
practice
6. Non
Clinical
To
demonstrate a sound understanding of clinical governance and risk management
and their application to work situation
To
implement Health & Safety in the workplace by maintaining a safe
environment for patients, staff and visitors at all times
To
take responsibility for evaluation and avoidance of risk within department
To
act immediately to rectify unsafe practices
To
report adverse incidents to staff, patients or any other person according to
Trust policy
To
attend mandatory training ensuring there is adequate cover for clinical work
To
adhere to all Trust and departmental policies and other statutory requirements
such as Infection Control
To
recognize safeguarding concerns, contribute to safeguarding assessments and to
share safeguarding information appropriately and escalate concerns in line with
the Trust policy
7.
Leadership and
Service Development
To
help with recruitment and selection of dietitians
To
assist with reviewing services provided, identify opportunities, and make
recommendations
To
participate in meetings and maintain good communication levels within
department
To
actively contribute towards innovation and improvement of services
To
uphold professional and Trust values and ethics
To
communicate effectively and work collaboratively with medical, nursing, AHPs
and colleagues in other agencies to ensure the delivery of a coordinated
multidisciplinary service
To
build and maintain relationships between areas or departments
To
collect data to produce relevant statistical information on service
delivery
To
evaluate where clinical improvement is required, initiating and reviewing
change as appropriate
8.
Professional
To
maintain Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) registration, adhering to the
Standards of Conduct Performance and Ethics
To
work within the British Dietetic Association (BDA) code of conduct
To
provide high quality evidence based service by researching dietetic
information
To
undertake dietetic audits and surveys
To
maintain a professional attitude at all times promoting the role of the
Dietitian in the best interest of the patients and profession
To
take personal responsibility for the updating of professional skills and
developments within the profession by attending relevant study days, literature
review and implementing CPD
To
be conversant and comply with Trust policies and regulations
