Job summary
- Main area
- Dietetics
- Grade
- Band 6
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time - 30 hours per week
- Job ref
- 327-26-044
- Employer
- Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Wotton Lawn Hospital
- Town
- Gloucester
- Salary
- £38,682 - £46,580 per annum pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 22/02/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Specialist Mental Health Dietician
Band 6
We love what we do and we think you will, too!
At Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (GHC), we provide joined-up mental health, physical health and learning disability services to people of all ages across Gloucestershire. We run community hospitals and provide care and support in people’s own homes and in a range of other locations across the county.
We are on a mission to enable people to live the best life they can and we have a vision to work together to provide outstanding care. We put people at the heart of our services, focusing on personalised care by asking ‘what matters to you’.
We’re passionate about making sure that everyone can contribute to achieving our mission and we are continually working to support healthy and happy high-quality teams in all areas of the Trust.
Our application process aims to understand each candidates knowledge, skills and experience. We have found that candidates that use AI to generate their answers can lack specificity and fail to address key criteria outlined in the job description.
It is really important to personalise your application to convey your individual skills, knowledge, and experiences effectively and for us to understand why you are applying for this role with GHC. We discourage over reliance on AI-generated applications as it will lessen your chances of success in securing an interview with us .
Job overview
This role is offered on a permanent basis. The hours are part-time, 30 hours per week.
The main responsibility of this post is to provide clinical dietetic services to the wards at Wotton Lawn and Charlton Lane Hospitals, Berkeley House LD inpatient unit, and Laurel House & Honeybourne Recovery Units
• The post holder will work within professional guidelines and policies to support patients with highly complex needs
• To provide supervision to Dietetics students and engage in peer review sessions with other clinicians within Gloucestershire Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust
• The job holder will be recognised as an expert within their area, working in partnership with others internally and externally to develop their defined area of service.
• To develop the knowledge, skills and awareness of partners both within the Trust and outside
Main duties of the job
• To provide specialist nutrition advice/input and training throughout mental health and learning disabilities (LD) services within the Trust
• To provide a Trust wide Nutrition and Dietetic Service for mental health and LD and work as an autonomous practitioner and with supervision from the lead Dietitian.
• To work with catering services to ensure the Trust's catering provisions are fit for purpose and meet national guidelines for hospital food standards
• To provide dietetic assessments and interventions to individuals or groups of clients with mental illness or learning disabilities
• To provide clinical supervision and support to Dietetic Students
• To carry out delegated tasks in policy and service development reviews.
Working for our organisation
We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people’s homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.
Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:
- 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
- 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
- 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust’s priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.
This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
• To deliver a Dietetic service, ensuring that it is evidence based and in line with clinical governance requirements.
• To ensure that patients/clients are involved in the planning and prioritisation of their care plans wherever possible.
• To demonstrate a high level of clinical effectiveness, using evidence-based practice, adapting practice to meet individual patients’ circumstances; including due regard for cultural and linguistic differences, and by evaluating outcomes
• To provide specialist advice to others regarding the management and care of patients/clients with nutritional difficulties
• To plan and prioritise workload, exercising professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients with nutritional difficulties.
• To use advanced communication/behaviour change skills and motivational techniques to negotiate with clients and carers the necessary changes to their diet.
- To overcome resistance to dietary change by motivating and educating clients and carers with the appropriate information and skills needed to meet their nutritional requirements and empower them to control their own medical condition.
• To demonstrate good negotiation skills across a range of issues and to negotiate with others regarding complex case management issues
• To maintain appropriate records in electronic or hard copy in line with Trust policies and professional guidelines, including workload data and to use word processing skills to produce client related reports reflecting highly specialist knowledge
• To assume delegated tasks as requested by line manager.
• To use professional skills and knowledge; including research, service evaluation and audit, to support service/policy developments
• To contribute to interagency/multi-disciplinary team building and policy development.
• To advise line manager on issues of service delivery including shortfall, service pressures etc.
• To be responsible for the security, care and maintenance of equipment – including equipment loaned to clients, ensuring standards of infection control and safety are maintained
- To develop and deliver training, both formal and informal, to assistants, volunteers, non-specialists, carers and other specialists/professionals.
• To promote actively the involvement of service users and carers; providing information to encourage their involvement and to ensure that they are adequately supported in this involvement.
• To supervise, evaluate and assess students on placements.
• To initiate and undertake audit projects within area of clinical expertise
• To collect and provide research data as required
• To support the interpretation and implementation of national and local policy relevant to people with learning disabilities, mental health difficulties and eating disorders
• To manage a complex caseload.
• To be accountable for own professional action and recognise own professional boundaries through interpretation of clinical/professional policies
• To work within defined departmental and national protocols/policies and professional code of conduct
• To work independently, accessing appraisal within an Individual Performance Framework at pre-determined intervals
The Trust is required to work in line with the Government’s UK Visa and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information about sponsorship for certain roles, please visit - https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Degree/post Graduate Diploma in Nutrition and Dietetics
- Recognised degree registration under the Health and Care Professions’ Council
Desirable criteria
- Evidence of post-graduate training
- Advanced Diploma of Dietetics
Experience
Essential criteria
- Comprehensive post registration experience including evidence of experience in catering and providing training
- Experience of working with eating disorder cases either in a community setting or in-patient
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working in mental health and learning disability clinical settings
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Proven ability to work independently, manage and prioritise workload
- Good knowledge of eating disorders and their physical consequences
Desirable criteria
- Experience of providing supervision to other colleagues/professionals
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Laura Burdett
- Job title
- Allied Health Professionals Operational Lead IP MH
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07815598508
- Additional information
Sarah Hughes
Head of Profession for Dietetics
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