Due to retirement, an exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Nutrition and Dietetic department at Bedford Hospital as a full time or part time integrated community diabetes team specialist dietitian.
The post holder will be responsible for providinga specialist clinical community service to patients with diabetes in North and mid Bedfordshire, women with gestational diabetes and supporting structured type 2 diabetes education.
We would love to have you join us if you have the skills and experience required for this post.
Quote from a previous post holder:
“I have loved the variety that this role has brought. From training health care professionals to joint clinics with DSNs to group education sessions with patients with type 2 diabetes, it’s always interesting. The ICDS and diabetes education teams are brilliant teams to be part of and learn from.”
You will be joining a friendly and highly skilled department that is valued and respected throughout the Trust and part of the wider therapies directorate.You will work closely with the other specialist diabetes dietitians, specialist diabetes nurses, diabetes educators and dietetic assistant practitioners. You will be supported by the Diabetes Dietitian Team Lead and practice development dietitian.
We would consider a developmental post for the right candidate with the opportunity to progress from band 5 to band 6 following successful completion of a set of competencies.
The post if offered as part-time (30 hours) or full-time (37.5 hours) depending on the applicant’s preferences and the workload will be adjusted accordingly. Occasional working on a Saturday and at weekends is required.
Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics.
You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career.
We have state-of-the art facilities placing us at the heart of cutting edge health care. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.
Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. Please ensure that you make your application as soon as possible.
All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering their first six months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required.
Please review all documents attached to this advert to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job.
1. To manage a complex caseload of diabetic patients in the community. This service provides input to patients in an outpatient clinic setting, domiciliary visits and care homes.
2. To deliver and support the structured type 2 diabetes education programmes as part of the Diabetes Education Team (such as DESMOND, ADAM and ESTA). This will involve maintaining accreditation and standard of those programmes.
3. To deliver and support the group education sessions for women with gestational diabetes.
4. To contribute to improving the understanding of diabetes management by advising and developing and delivering training around first line dietary advice for healthcare professionals, patients and their carers to enable them to optimise dietetic treatment for people with diabetes.
5. To develop innovative and culturally appropriate educational resources to support the teaching of patients and healthcare professionals on the nutritional management of diabetes.
6. To co-ordinate service improvement projects within diabetes dietetics following discussion with the team lead.
7. To represent the dietetic department, integrated community diabetes service and diabetes education team at MDT meetings e.g. case conferences, and to ensure delivery of co-ordinated multi-disciplinary care, where appropriate.
8. To have a very good understanding of and contribute to the effective running of the diabetes dietetics service, integrated community diabetes service and diabetes education team.
9. To take appropriate action using advanced problem solving skills to assist patients, health/social care professionals and members of the public with queries regarding diabetes dietetics.
10. To accept clinical responsibility for a designated caseload of patients within your own scope of practice and organise this effectively and efficiently with regard to clinical priorities and use of time.
11. To work as an autonomous practitioner by planning and prioritising own workload according to locally agreed priority coding.
12. To develop and maintain a specialist knowledge of evidence-based practice, the common conditions you come across and national and local standards within diabetes dietetics. This includes a specialist knowledge of diabetes management medications and home testing processes.
13. To develop and maintain a specialist knowledge of evidence-based practice, the common conditions you come across and national and local standards within diabetes dietetics.
14. To undertake a comprehensive assessment (interpretation of biochemistry, anthropometrics, clinical condition and diet history) of patients including those with complex presentations/multi pathologies and use clinical reasoning skills to set nutritionaland glycaemic control goals for each patient.
15. To give expert opinion on complex nutrition related issues where numerous social, ethical, psychological and medical factors have to be considered and where there may be conflicting ideas from the multidisciplinary team.
16. To negotiate and agree dietary interventions with patients and their carers using appropriate counselling and motivational skills to optimise their nutritional status and/or glycaemic control.
17. To make recommendations for appropriate prescription of nutritional products according to local guidelines regarding the use of nutritional supplements.
18. To ensure adequate monitoring and review of patients.
19. To assess the suitability of incoming referrals according to the agreed referral criteria, liaise with the referring agent if further information is required prior to acceptance.
20. To co-ordinate appropriate follow up and outward referrals to other services in order to facilitate the safe and timely discharge/transfer of care.
21. To have insight to recognise and act appropriately if vulnerable patients are at risk or deemed to be in need.
22. To be responsible for maintaining accurate and comprehensive patient records in line with BDA, Trust and department standards and provide statistics of patient contacts in a timely fashion.
23. To liaise with healthcare professionals within the wider community and across the network.
24. To communicate complex, specialised and sensitive information with empathy and understanding to patients and their carers or other family members where appropriate. This includes communication with patients from an ethnic minority who may not have English as a first language.
25. To take appropriate action using advanced problem solving skills to assist patients, health and social care professionals and members of the public with queries relating to diabetes dietetics, the integrated community diabetes team and diabetes education team.
26. To work as an integral part of the diabetes dietetics team, integrated community diabetes service and diabetes education team and to support other dietetics teams and work alongside the wider multi-disciplinary team.
27. To plan, deliver, evaluate and develop training and education sessions to patient and multi-disciplinary staff groups in conjunction with the team lead.
28. To work within Trust, departmental, HCPC and BDA clinical and professional guidelines, policies and procedures.
29. To contribute to the development and updating of policies, guidelines, patient information and other resources related to diabetes dietetics in conjunction with the team lead.
30. To support the team lead in ensuring guidelines relating to diabetes dietetics are fully implemented across the department/MDT.
31. To report and review information required for managing and monitoring the service such as referral numbers, key performance indicators, waiting list management, prioritisation of caseloads, DNA rates, outcome measures and user satisfaction surveys.
32. To plan and deliver audit, research and service evaluations to help deliver improvement in in service delivery and clinical practice following discussion with the team lead.
33. Work with colleagues to help the Trust meet the CQC standards for nutrition.
34. To be responsible for maintaining own development and competency to practice through CPD activities.
35. To participate in and contribute to the organising and delivery of the department's CPD programme in collaboration with senior staff.
36. To be an active member of the department by the attendance and presenting at staff meetings, attending and facilitating tutorials and training sessions.
37. To participate in the department appraisal scheme and be responsible for complying with agreed Personal Development Plans to meet knowledge and competencies.
38. To participate in regular supervision and provide supervision and support for the diabetes dietetic assistant practitioner.
39. To support the induction and recruitment of new staff members within the diabetes dietetics team, integrated community diabetes service and diabetes education team.
40. To contribute to the upskilling of the diabetes dietetic assistant practitioner in order to maintain staff skill mixes and ensure adequate resilience across the diabetes dietetics team.
41. To be responsible for the supervision and assessment of students during their placement. This will include the role as practice educator and weekly supervisor.
42. To comply with the lone worker policy.
43. To work flexibly to support the diabetes and dietetics team. This will include occasional Saturday and evening work.
44. To provide cover for other departments at short notice to cover unplanned and planned absences within the post holders competency and skill level.
45. To undertake any other duties as identified by the team lead as required for the successful delivery of the diabetes dietetics service.
This advert closes on Friday 7 Mar 2025