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Job summary

Main area
Therapies
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 5
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
409-7787314
Employer
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Whiston Hospital
Town
Prescot
Salary
£31,049 - £37,796 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
19/03/2026 23:59
Interview date
30/03/2026

Employer heading

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust logo

Dietitian

NHS AfC: Band 5

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Job overview

Dietitian - Band 5

Full time 37.5 hours/week (part time considered)

Permanent Contract

£31,049 - 37,796 pa

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a band 5 Dietitian to join our friendly Dietetic department at Whiston Hospital (Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospital NHS Trust). 

We are looking for a professional, confident, enthusiastic, driven and motivated individual, who is a team player and keen to develop their knowledge and skills. The successful individual will have excellent interpersonal skills, a flexible approach with the ability to work to high standards, as well as being able to recognise personal and role limitations.

The role is an ideal opportunity to gain experience in one of our Band 5 rotations: general medicine, cardiorespiratory and general surgery, or older people including frailty. The successful candidate will be to deliver high quality evidence-based care, be required to work autonomously and take responsibility for your own clinical caseload.

Main duties of the job

As a service, we are committed to CPD for all our staff through a range of opportunities including training courses e.g. Postgraduate Masters, the PENG clinical update; BDA accredited courses; and regular internal CPD sessions. There are opportunities to contribute to audits and service development projects and shadowing and development in more specialist areas such as stroke, critical care, gastroenterology, parenteral nutrition, UGI cancer and burns and plastics. If newly qualified, you will be enrolled in the Trust’s preceptorship programme which supports the transition from newly registered professional to competent practitioner.

We have an excellent staff supervision system enabling our staff to be committed to developing both the service and themselves. You will receive regular supervision from a Senior Dietitian and peer support from our existing Band 5 Dietitians.  We take Student Dietitians on P1, P2 and P3 placements and your input into their training would be valued.

A flexible approach to day-to-day tasks is essential to meet the demands of the service. Our philosophy is to keep the patient at the heart of everything we do. We are a forward-thinking department that is continually looking for ways to improve our services and every contribution is welcome.

PLEASE NOTE – we provide a seven day service, days of work will be Monday to Sunday. You may be asked to provide occasional cover on a Bank Holiday.

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

Our services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

  • Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
  • Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
  • National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme.

 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

  • To be professional and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of your own work including the management of patients/clients in your care.
  • To undertake a comprehensive assessment of patients/clients including those with diverse or complex presentations/multi pathologies; use specialist clinical reasoning skills and appropriate assessment techniques to provide an accurate diagnosis of their condition.
  • Formulate and deliver an individual treatment programme using assessment, reasoning skills and treatment skills based on a sound knowledge of evidence based practice and treatment options.
  • To take delegated responsibility from a senior clinician for managing patients/clients with particular conditions and be responsible for providing specialist assessment and treatment plans for patients with these conditions.
  • Evaluate patient progress, reassess and alter treatment programmes as required, reporting back to senior clinician with regular support and advice.
  • To have the ability to undertake self-directed/lone working in a variety of locations.
  • To participate in weekend, evening working and seven day working rota’s as applicable.  

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • BSc (Hons) Degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics or equivalent
  • HCPC Registered Dietitian
Desirable criteria
  • Member of British Dietetic Association

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Previous demonstrable experience of working in a health, social setting as a dietitian.
  • Awareness of current NHS issues and relevant framework/quality indicators
  • Knowledge of evidence-based practice and importance within clinical area
  • Experience of taking an active role within the Multidisciplinary Team
  • Awareness of health and safety issues and reporting mechanisms
  • Demonstrate an awareness of clinical governance and its application within Therapy
  • Demonstrates a more advanced knowledge of computer packages
  • Commitment to your and others ongoing Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and maintenance of professional portfolio.
Desirable criteria
  • Experience of facilitating dietetic student training

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Ability to manage own time within clinical and non-clinical activity and to guide others using problem solving and decision-making skills
  • Ability to maintain records, statistical and activity data according to service standards.
  • Effective teaching and presentation skills
  • Ability to encourage and motivate others by providing sound practical and realistic advice
  • Ability to demonstrate clinical reasoning and a holistic problem solving approach, appropriate to experience within clinical area
  • Ability to manage own stress and awareness of stress in others
  • To demonstrate tact/diplomacy and empathy within clinical/team settings
  • Good interpersonal skills with effective written and verbal communication- replaces one that mentions communication in MDT
  • Ability to demonstrate assertiveness within the clinical settings
  • Ability to positively represent the Dietetic Team within the Organisation
  • Ability to demonstrate reflective practice

Other

Essential criteria
  • The post includes a combination of walking and sitting with duties being carried out in a variety of settings across the hospital sites.
  • The post will be based at Southport Hospital but postholder would be required to work across sites and attend meetings held in community buildings and ODGH.
  • To be able physically carry equipment (e.g. ward folders, teaching materials, audio-visual aids)
  • The post holder will be required to use frequent concentration in assessing patients and devising care plans.
  • Conveying complex nutritional information in a comprehensible and practical way to clients, families and carers where there may be significant barriers to understanding.
  • Prioritising clinical work responding to unpredictable demands on time e.g. responding to bleeps for urgent referrals
  • The post holder will often have to overcome barriers to communication such as illiteracy, learning difficulties, hearing and sight impairment, language and may have to work with interpreters.
  • Communication with and have direct contact with a wide variety of people, including health, social care and education professionals, patients, carers, the public.
  • Daily involvement with chronically and terminally ill patients and their carers.
  • The post holder will be exposed to sensitive, emotional and distressing circumstances, including terminally ill patients and abusive patients/carers.
  • The post holder will be exposed to the working conditions associated with clinical environment
  • Routinely encounters unpleasant smells and sights, with possible exposure to bodily fluids including blood and sputum.
  • Ability to fulfil the travel requirements of the post

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Nursing TimesApprenticeships logoDisability confident leaderArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardNavajo - Merseyside and CheshireCare quality commission - OutstandingDying to Work CharterStep into healthHappy to Talk Flexible WorkingNHS Rainbow Badge - BronzeDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - GoldPeople Promise

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

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Justyna Pelka
Job title
Advanced Dietitian and Team Lead
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
0151 430 1201
Additional information

Claire Whittingham - Advanced Dietitian 0151 430 1201 or email: [email protected]

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