Specialist Paediatric HEF DietitianNHS

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic dietitian with excellent communication skills to join our small team of Community Dietitians providing a service to patients across three geographic areas.

Based in Plymouth the successful applicant will manage a home enteral feeding caseload of paediatric patients in domiciliary setting. The post holder will need to have broad dietetic experience across a range of clinical conditions and extensive paediatric experience. The community team is part of the University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust Dietetic Department which provides services to Derriford Hospital and an extensive community area. The department has close links with the Peninsula Medical School and the dietetics course at Plymouth University. All staff are involved in student dietitian training providing A, B and C placements and participate in the training of medical students and other health care professionals.

***Preference will be given to internal Trust staff, as well as 'Priority' and 'At Risk' status including NHS At Risk staff throughout Devon who are able to display recent relevant experience as dictated by the Person Specification.***

Main duties of the job

• The postholder manages own caseload of paediatric HEF patients within their home setting including residential homes/schools and day centres.
• Working as an autonomous Nutrition and Dietetics practitioner, providing dietetic treatment and advice for a diverse and complex caseload of infants and children as required
• To deliver specialist dietetic clinical care to paediatric patients requiring home enteral tube feeding within Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust and the community it serves whilst working to the Dietitians' Professional Code of Conduct.
• This post is part of the Nutrition and Dietetic Department Derriford Hospital, based in the community at Estover Health Centre
• The Nutrition and Dietetic Department has 44.19 W.T.E. staff with departmental contacts approximately 24,000 per year across acute and community

***Preference will be given to internal Trust staff, as well as 'Priority' and 'At Risk' status including NHS At Risk staff throughout Devon who are able to display recent relevant experience as dictated by the Person Specification.***

Job description

o To be professionally responsible and accountable for the management of own clinical caseload and to organise this effectively with regards to clinical priority and effective use of time in a variety of settings.

o To work autonomously to provide highly complex advice to paediatric patients with highly complex medical and surgical conditions that are reliant on artificial nutrition support in the community. This will involve nutritional assessment (based on interpretation of biochemistry, anthropometry, clinical condition and dietary history) and development of nutritional care plans which are both realistic, practical and evidence based (based on assessment of medical, social, economic, cultural and psychological factors).

o To manage and be responsible for an individual caseload of paediatric patients with a wide range of medical, neurological, physical, social and emotional needs, including life limiting and degenerative conditions in an outpatient setting.

o To assess and interpret the medical diagnoses and changes in medical conditions and treatment plans of individual patients requiring artificial nutrition support and understand how it affects nutritional management.

o To formulate feeding regimens based on medical condition, fluid management, biochemical and anthropometric monitoring. o To have an awareness of tube site complications and to alert appropriate health care professionals to these complications if detected.

o To respond to urgent complex problems with enteral feeding tubes e.g accidental removal or blockages. Where possible to arrange emergency replacement of balloon retained gastrostomy devices or emergency assistance to clear blocked enteral feeding tubes in order to prevent hospital admissions.

o To provide training to patients and carers alongside nutrition nurses on the correct procedures of care for their enteral feeding tube.

o To maintain knowledge and awareness of guidelines for correct administration of medicines via enteral feeding tubes and where appropriate to liaise with the medicines management pharmacist for patient medication review.

o To attend relevant multidisciplinary meetings in order to provide expert advice to clinicians regarding provision of appropriate nutrition support interventions based on clinical evidence.

o To communicate effectively with patients and carers to maximise condition management, recovery potential, further disease prevention and during terminal care.

For further details please see the attached JD & PS.

About us

We are a people business - where every member of staff matters and can make a difference. Patients are at the heart of everything we do. Joining University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust means becoming part of a team of dedicated staff, who are committed to leading the way through innovation, clinical excellence and great customer care. The Trust has great opportunities for career development in a highly progressive working environment. We offer all of this in a vibrant, modern city with a historic reputation for adventure.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL COMMUNICATION WILL BE ELECTRONIC, PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT REGULARLY.

If you have any issues with applying online and need additional support including reasonable adjustments with the application process, please contact the recruitment team on 01752 432100.

We recognise that work life balance is important for our colleagues and so we invite requests from applicants around less than full time/flexible working for our advertised roles. Please contact the recruiting manager to discuss this prior to your application submission. We commit to giving this full consideration in each case. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds to apply for our roles, as diversity strengthens our teams.

It is sometimes necessary to close vacancies before the closing date. If you have not heard from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been shortlisted.