Home Enteral Feeding/Community Dietitian

Job overview

Is home Enteral Feeding /community dietetics the career pathway you are looking for ?

The successful candidate would be part of an enthusiastic and dynamic expanding Home Enteral Feeding (HEF)/ community dietetic team and enjoy strong MDT working with the wider community team including community nurses, specialist nurses and medicine management team.

You would be based at Leighton Hospital working  across Mid Cheshire providing clinical intervention, patient and health care professional training and education to patients in their own homes, nursing homes and community clinics. This post offers the opportunity for a dietitian to further develop their clinical skills primarily in enteral feeding and nutritional support whilst maintaining core therapeutic dietetic knowledge.

If you are starting out in your career, and would like to develop skill in community /home enteral feeding, the team could support a band 5 development post moving to band 6 following completion of competency training.

Please be aware you must have a valid UK driving licence and access to a car for work purposes to apply for this role.

Main duties of the job

To deliver specialist dietetic services to adults requiring enteral feeding, prescribing support or therapeutic dietary intervention across South Cheshire and Vale Royal, as part of the Home Enteral Feeding Team. To provide regular home visits, virtual clinics and community dietetic clinics for this patient group, this will include the placement of enteral feeding tube following competency based training. To formulate, deliver and monitor nutritional care plans for patients. This would include complex clinical conditions and diet therapy, within the community setting, including in patient’s own homes and continuing care establishments. To be recognised as an expert source of knowledge in the field of enteral tube feeding and Oral Nutritional Supplements (ONS) contributing to development of clinical guidelines, resources and education packages.

The post requires developed communication and interpersonal skills for MDT working, patient education on a one to one and in a group setting and health care professional training. Ideally you will have a broad dietetic experience, including enteral feeding.

Competency based training will be provided in all aspects of community dietetics and HEF as required.  Our service is committed to the training of student dietitians and other health care professionals.

The department encourages innovation and supports continuous professional development. We have embraced paperless working and are supported with enhanced IT facilities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To practice safely within the professional code of conduct and level of competency for all aspects of work, including the management of patients in your care.

To contribute to the delivery of the dietetic service to the adult community patients including therapeutic diets, malnutrition and enteral feeding which requires specialised nutritional knowledge of enteral products alongside tube care, PEG site management and transitional feeding. Managing and prioritising a defined patient caseload within the community setting.

To promote the role of the dietitian within the multidisciplinary team and develop competency to undertake associated procedures with full consultation with community team leader such as replacement of balloon retained gastrostomy tubes

To work closely with speech and language therapists to assess community patients, prior to referral for PEG placement, against MCHFT criteria and directly refer to the consultant physician as appropriate.

To work closely with MMT on cost effective prescribing in the community