Advanced Paediatric dietitian

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and motivated dietitian to join our friendly, supportive and forward-thinking dietetic team. We are seeking an experienced paediatric dietitian to work within our specialist cardiac service.

The successful candidate will provide expert nutritional assessment and management for infants, children and young people across the inpatient and outpatient cardiology pathway. Working closely with cardiologists, specialist nurses and the wider multidisciplinary team, you will play a key role in supporting growth and development, optimising nutritional status before and after surgery, managing enteral feeding, and contributing to service development and clinical governance activities.

Ideally you should be able to commence at Band 7 level but full consideration will be given to experienced applicants to commence at Band 6 with the view to progress to band 7 level when ready.

This role also offers opportunities to mentor and supervise rotational Band 6 dietitians, contribute to departmental service development projects and student training, and support team leads with management and leadership activities.

Main duties of the job

• To use an advanced level of knowledge, skills and experience to provide highly specialist evidence based clinical dietetic services within identified paediatric sub specialities within the Trust. This includes assessment, treatment and monitoring of patients and the provision of nutrition support, both enteral and parenteral, dietetic treatment and education of families to enable continuous treatment at home. It incorporates both in-patient and out-patient care.
• To collaborate with the other members of the sub speciality dietetic team to develop and maintain evidence based educational resources which enable families to manage the on- going dietetic care of their child.
• To communicate effectively within the multi-disciplinary care team both at an individual patient level and regarding wider aspects of dietetic and nutritional care standards.
• To continuously review the evidence base for nutrition and dietetic interventions in children and young people.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Accept clinical responsibility for the dietetic management of children and young people with a broad range of complex and highly complex clinical conditions. Organising workload effectively and efficiently according to clinical priorities.
• Undertake comprehensive assessment of clinical and nutritional status including anthropometrics, biochemistry, clinical condition and nutritional requirements.
• Analyse and interpret the results of the nutritional, biochemical and clinical assessment to help formulate both a diagnosis and a treatment plan taking into account clinical, social and cultural factors.
• Plan and implement dietetic intervention based on the results of the nutritional assessment to achieve the expected clinical outcome.
• Comprehensively assess patients requiring nutrition support including parenteral nutrition and be able to manage all the dietetic aspects of these interventions
• Provide suitable written and verbal information to families, nursing staff, special feeds unit and catering to ensure the provision of correct dietary treatment for in-patients.
• Continuously evaluate the young person’s clinical parameters and outcomes and modify the dietetic treatment plan as necessary to achieve expected long term dietetic and clinical outcome.
• Advise medical staff on the prescribing of appropriate medications and nutritional supplements to support treatment e.g. vitamins, minerals, protein and energy substitutes, pancreatic enzymes
• Communicate complex and sensitive information to children and their families in a way which is understandable to them and which may include unwelcome or difficult to accept information
• Engage and negotiate with children and their families to enable and motivate them to agree and achieve the required dietetic intervention in a supportive and empathetic framework.
• Attend and contribute to multi-disciplinary team meetings and ward rounds appropriate to the needs of the speciality area of work and ensure that the dietetic aspects of care are communicated effectively within the multidisciplinary team
• Ensure safe and timely discharge of patients including liaison with GP’s, community dietitians and other key agencies.
• Undertake community, school and home visits when necessary to support the dietetic treatment of the child.
• Continuously monitor and review the dietetic management and other associated medical treatments against outcome measures adjusting treatment and goals as appropriate to the clinical situation.
• Develop and maintain a range of educational resources to support dietetic advice which have a clear evidence base and which are understandable by children, young people and their families.
• Liaise with medical teams when clinically appropriate to arrange admissions when clinically necessary
• Record accurately all dietetic intervention in line with the agreed record keeping standards of the HCPC and the department. Communicate orally, and in writing where appropriate, relevant patient information to all relevant health professionals and agencies
• Develop evidence-based protocols and standards of care for dietetic care of children with these specific conditions.
• Evaluate regional, national and international standards of care to ensure that dietetic care is delivered effectively to current accepted standards.
• Work with the dietetic assistants to ensure accurate and up-to-date nutritional product data is maintained
• Provide clinical dietetic cover within other specialities as and when workload demand requires this.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.