We are looking for a passionate Dietitian to join our friendly, caring and forward-thinking Community Dietetics Team.
The role is based at Whiston Primary Care Resource Centre and you would be part of the Community Care Division providing a dietetic service to the adult population of Knowsley and St Helens.
We welcome applications from motivated, enthusiastic, newly qualified or experienced Band 5 Dietitians as well as Dietetic students. Flexible working will be considered. The ability to travel in the community between St Helens and Knowsley is essential.
Main duties of the job
This post holder will provide nutritional care within a variety of settings including outpatient clinics, care homes, and patients' own homes. You will manage a diverse clinical caseload incorporating nutritional support, frailty, chronic diseases, oncology, neurology, and gastrointestinal disorders. This post will provide excellent experience in adult community dietetics with the opportunity to gain further knowledge in the areas of home enteral feeding and pediatrics.
You will be fully supported by your clinical supervisors with regular supervision sessions as well as joining the Trust's AHP Preceptorship programme. We also have a well-established student training programme which you will be actively involved in to develop your clinical supervisory skills.
Professional development is given a high priority within the department with CPD fully encouraged and supported by the Trust.
About us
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales, and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction, and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable, and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Job responsibilities
* Assess, plan, develop, implement, and evaluate programmes to promote and prevent adverse effects on health and well-being.
* Implement and evaluate individual treatment plans for patients.
* Identify and manage as appropriate treatment plans for patients at risk.
* Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately to assist the patient in complex, urgent, or emergency situations.
* Provide information and advice on prescribed or over-the-counter medication.
* Recognise, assess, and refer patients presenting with mental health needs.
* Promote and deliver evidence-based care.
* Assist senior practitioners as required.
* Utilise and demonstrate sensitive communication styles, to ensure patients are fully informed and consent to treatment.
* Communicate effectively with patients and carers, recognising the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural backgrounds, and preferred ways of communicating.
* Act as an advocate when representing patients and colleagues' viewpoints to others.
* Recognise and work within own competence and professional code of conduct as regulated by the relevant professional body.
* Produce accurate, contemporaneous, and complete records of patient consultation, consistent with legislation, policies, and procedures.
* Prioritise, organise, and manage own workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality.
* Deliver care according to national and local guidelines, working in partnership with other clinical teams/departments.
* Assess effectiveness of care delivery through self and peer review, benchmarking, and formal evaluation.
* Participate in the maintenance of quality governance systems and processes across the organisation and its activities.
* Utilise the audit cycle as a means of evaluating quality, implementing improvements where required.
* Evaluate the patient's response to health care provision and the effectiveness of care.
* Support and participate in shared learning across the wider organisation.
* Utilising a structured framework (e.g. root cause analysis), participate in the management, review, and identify learning from patient complaints, clinical incidents, and near miss events.
* Participate in the performance monitoring review of the team, providing feedback as appropriate.
* Act as a positive role model, taking responsibility for own development, learning, and performance including participating in clinical supervision.
* Actively promote the workplace as a learning environment encouraging everyone to reach their potential, learn from each other, and from external good practice.
* Understand own responsibilities and accountability in the delivery of care to patients, ensuring that the needs of the patient are the priority.
* Participate in planning and implementing changes within the area of care and responsibility.
* Work with other professionals to ensure sufficient staff of appropriate ability, quality, and skill mix is available to meet the needs of patients.
* Contribute and participate in the development of local guidelines, protocols, and standards.
* Critically evaluate and review innovations and developments that are relevant to own practice.
* Keep up to date with new developments locally and nationally identifying those that will enhance the team's work.
* Undertake mandatory and statutory training.
* Act as a mentor to students assessing competency against set standards as requested if appropriately qualified.
* Accept and delegate tasks appropriately.
* The post holder shall, as necessary, provide cover for and undertake duties of absent colleagues.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* BSc Nutrition and Dietetics or relevant degree with post-graduate diploma in dietetics.
* Health Professions Council registration for dietetics.
* Full driving license and daily use of car to visit numerous sites across the trust.
* Full member of British Dietetic Association.
Knowledge/Experience
* Comprehensive experience at undergraduate level or at band 5 of the core competencies within Dietetics.
* Experience of working in a mental health setting.
* Preferably with experience in NHS.
* Working with hospital or commercial caterers.
Values
* Accountability
* Support
* Responsive to service users
* Engaging leadership style
* Transparency and honesty
* Discreet
Skills
* Understanding of professional and ethical issues.
* Assessment, observation, evaluation, and report writing skills.
* Knowledge of current best practice in Dietetics.
* Ability to work single-handed with access to guidance from Dietetic colleagues on site or by telephone.
* Ability to reflect and critically appraise own performance.
* Positive and objective interpersonal skills.
* Basic knowledge of health and social care legislation and guidelines e.g. Department of Health documents, national clinical guidelines, and application to Dietetic practice.
* Awareness of research methods and audit skills to inform and evaluate practice.
* Basic knowledge of the principles of clinical governance.
* Basic knowledge of principles of health and safety and risk awareness.
* Understanding of professional conduct and confidentiality.
* Understanding of team dynamics.
* Ability to build effective working relationships.
* Effective personal organisational skills.
* Portfolio of documented evidence of Continuing Professional Development.
* Written and oral communication skills in English sufficient to communicate effectively with patients to gain consent and explain treatment interventions and gain information required for the patient's medical/social history relevant to Dietetics.
* Basic computer skills e.g. word processing, email, internet skills and preferable experience of using electronic patient record systems (EPEX).
* Accurate anthropometric skills.
* Experience of working in collaboration with other professions to deliver care.
* Agencies to achieve agreed outcomes for individuals in delivery of treatment outcomes.
Functional skill
* Full driving license for Community working.
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.
£29,970 to £36,483 a year per annum pro rata.
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