Job overview

Due to expansion and development within our dietetic service at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, we are offering an exciting opportunity for a dynamic, motivated and proactive dietitian to work within our team. This will be a split post offering the opportunity to enhance your nutritional support skills working with patients with complex medical and social needs.

You will work 3 days a week in the speciality of Neurosciences within our Acute and Rehab Team. This caseload includes both an acute high dependency and rehabilitation caseload working within Neurosurgery, Neuro HDU, Neurology and Neuro-rehab.

You will also work 2 days a week within our oncology team, which will include upper-GI pathways.

You should be a friendly and forward-thinking Dietitian with excellent communication skills and confident in organising and prioritising workload within a busy acute hospital. You will have experience of managing patients requiring enteral nutrition. 

You will be involved in ward-based teaching and education and development of resources, working with dietetic colleagues, nutrition nurse specialists and practice education facilitators.

As part of this you will be involved in supporting training and audit and participation in Trust-wide nutrition and hydration improvement initiatives, with the opportunity to work within our Nutrition and Hydration councils which support the Trust Nutrition and Hydration Steering Group.

Main duties of the job

·       Working closely within the multi-disciplinary team to provide a dietetic service to all wards within the Neurosciences services.

·       Provide specialist dietetic support, particularly to those with complex nutritional needs (both oral and enteral) across a range of neurology conditions within the acute setting such as traumatic brain injury, neuro-oncology conditions, Gullian Barrie syndrome, Myasthenia Gravis, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease and Motor Neurone Disease.

·       Working with Oncology Dietetic colleagues to provide a service to cancer patients, including Upper-GI cancer, covering outpatient & inpatient areas,

·       Managing a predominantly enteral fed patient caseload including the preparation and organisation for discharge. Making appropriate onwards referrals for ongoing dietetic management/follow up.

·       Liaise with healthcare professions within & outside of the organisation to provide an holistic and patient centred approach to care such as specialist nurses, PEG MDT, enteral feeding company nurses, nutrition nurse specialists, respite care, district nurses, GPs, care home staff, community matrons/Macmillan nurses, palliative care team etc. 

·       To use a range of verbal and non-verbal communication tools to communicate complex and sensitive information effectively to patients/ caregivers, who may have barriers to understanding or communicating, and health care professionals in a variety of situations on different levels.

Working for our organisation

We have been trainers for student dietitians for many years, with the programmes shared across all of our localities.

We are a tertiary centre for many clinical specialities including major trauma, cardiothoracic surgery, regional spinal injuries unit, upper GI surgery, head and neck/Oro maxillofacial surgery and spinal cord injuries.

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust offers leadership and improvement training to all new staff.  This training programme has been designed to support our leaders in developing their understanding of leadership and management skills.  You will be expected to attend the following training sessions

·        Your Leadership Impact

·        Leading your Team to Success

·        Leading Into the Future

·        Service Improvement for Beginners

·        Developing your Service Improvement Skills

·        Lean Practitioner

The leadership and improvement programme aims to:

• Explore leadership within the NHS
• Promote Trust values and behaviours
• Develop your leadership effectiveness and skills
• Equip staff with the necessary knowledge and skills to lead and complete service improvements within the scope of your role.

After you complete these six and a half days of training you will be able to explore further leadership and improvement training opportunities. We also offer a range of additional in-house and externally provided courses and bitesize programmes through our Leadership and Improvement Team.