Band 7 PPU Dietitian – Inpatient & Outpatient Services

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic, self-motivated, and experienced Band 7 Dietitian to join the Therapy Services team within the Private Patients Unit (PPU) at the Royal Free Hospital.

The Private Patients Unit provides care for a diverse range of patients across multiple specialties, including hepatobiliary and pancreatic (HPB) services, renal medicine and dialysis, oncology, gastroenterology, surgery, respiratory medicine, elderly care, neurology, and critical care step-down. The service supports predominantly UK-based patients, alongside a smaller number of international patients who attend for specialist opinions, complex treatment pathways, advanced treatments, and ongoing rehabilitation.

The successful applicant will lead the dietetic service within the Private Patients Unit and be responsible for delivering a highly specialist, evidence-based nutrition and dietetic service to patients with complex nutritional needs across inpatient and outpatient settings. This will include the assessment, treatment, and management of patients requiring specialised nutritional interventions, including those with HPB conditions, cancer, renal disease, dialysis requirements, gastrointestinal disorders, and complex medical and surgical presentations.

This post presents a unique and exciting opportunity to establish and develop the outpatient dietetic service within the PPU, as there is currently no dedicated outpatient dietitian in place. The successful candidate will have the autonomy and support to design and grow the service, develop innovative care pathways, and create a seamless patient journey across inpatient and outpatient settings. This is an exceptional opportunity for an experienced clinician who is passionate about service development and keen to make a lasting impact.

Working closely with consultants, nursing staff, and multidisciplinary colleagues, the post holder will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of the dietetic provision within the PPU. They will drive quality improvement initiatives, support business growth, and ensure the delivery of gold-standard, patient-centred nutritional care that reflects the high expectations of a private healthcare environment. The successful candidate will demonstrate strong clinical leadership, advanced specialist expertise, and a commitment to delivering outstanding patient outcomes and experiences.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will lead and develop the dietetic service within the Private Patients Unit (PPU), delivering a highly specialist, evidence-based nutrition service to both inpatients and outpatients across a range of complex clinical specialties, including HPB, renal and dialysis, oncology, gastroenterology, hepatology, surgery, haematology and diabetes.

Key responsibilities include:

Providing expert nutritional assessment, diagnosis and treatment for patients with complex nutritional needs across inpatient and outpatient settings.  Delivering high-quality, patient-centred care within a private healthcare environment, ensuring clinical excellence, continuity of care and an exceptional patient experience.  Leading the development and implementation of a new outpatient dietetic service, including establishing referral pathways, clinic models, service standards and outcome measures.  Managing a varied caseload of patients requiring specialist nutritional interventions, including those with HPB disorders, renal disease requiring dialysis, cancer, gastrointestinal conditions and complex medical and surgical presentations.  Working autonomously while collaborating closely with consultants, nursing teams, therapists and specialist NHS dietetic colleagues to ensure seamless, multidisciplinary care.  Developing and delivering outpatient clinics, both face-to-face and virtual where appropriate, supporting patients with long-term condition management, rehabilitation and lifestyle optimisation.  Acting as the clinical lead for dietetics within the PPU, providing specialist advice and professional leadership to healthcare professionals and contributing to service planning and development.  Driving quality improvement, audit and service evaluation initiatives to ensure the delivery of a gold-standard dietetic service aligned with recognised private healthcare standards.  Supporting the growth and strategic development of dietetic services within the PPU, identifying opportunities to enhance patient pathways, improve outcomes and expand outpatient provision. Contributing to education and training across the multidisciplinary team, promoting best practice and increasing awareness of the role of nutrition in patient care. Maintaining accurate clinical documentation, activity reporting and outcome measurement to support governance, service evaluation and business planning.  This is a rare opportunity for an ambitious and innovative dietitian to establish and shape a growing outpatient service while maintaining excellence in inpatient care, helping to position the PPU as a provider of gold-standard  evidenced based nutritional care and outstanding patient experience

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Please see the attached Job Description document which will provide a more detailed description of role and main responsibilities.