Job summary
- Main area
- Dietetics - Community Services
- Grade
- Band 6
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 350-CC7310736
- Employer
- Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Zetland Street Community Clinic
- Town
- Southport
- Salary
- £37,338 - £44,962 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 13/07/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Community Dietitian
Band 6
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Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.
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Job overview
We are excited to be offering an inspiring role to join our team of Community Dietitians, Assistant Practitioners and administration staff working within our community services division across Sefton Place, part for Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.
This post is based within the Community Services Division across Sefton Place, initially supporting the team in Southport and Formby, providing nutritional care within a variety of settings including outpatient clinics, care homes and patients own homes. You will manage a diverse clinical caseload incorporating nutritional support, frailty, chronic diseases, oncology, neurology, gastrointestinal disorders and Home Enteral Feeding.
We will consider requests for part time or flexible working.
Main duties of the job
To provide specialist dietetic assessment, diagnosis, and treatment programmes to individual patients with complex needs. Work with key members of primary and secondary care to provide, advice, support, and care plans to patients within the relevant identified specialist field. Provide training, education, and specialist advice to qualified and nonqualified health care professionals in all areas of the specialised field.
Have an awareness of and implement clinical practice utilising the direction provided by National Service frameworks; NICE, Clinical Governance and DoH guidelines to ensure high quality evidence based best practice. To be an autonomous practitioner, holding a clinical caseload and working without direct supervision. Ensure the delivery of the quality care
within the designated area incorporating establishment of systems and processes.
Working for our organisation
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Responsible for the provision of appropriate, high quality care to a defined caseload.
Responsible for workload planning and delegation of work to other team members, taking into account competence levels.
Undertake holistic assessments of need for the patient and family, which may be highly complex, using the appropriate model of care and evidence-based practice.
Work in partnership with other professionals to enable patients/clients to be maintained in an appropriate environment, thus avoiding hospital admission.
Provide advice to patients, clients, and carers on a wide range of health issues to include health promotion, lifestyle advice and health care.
Ensure that the team provides a high-quality clinical service to its clients by
participation in caseload and clinical supervision.
In conjunction with the team leader, develop new ways of working to provide a responsive service to patients with both planned and unplanned care needs.
Develop partnerships and joint working within other agencies as appropriate.
Maintain registration in line with professional bodies.
Clinically lead, direct, mentor and support the team.
Support the team leader in the development of caseload management across the local health economy.
Acts as an advocate and champion for patients and/or clients.
Act as a role model to team members and students so that patients/clients receive the most effective care possible.
Contribute to the development of policy and services to reflect the needs of the local neighbourhood population.
Participate in the development, implementation, and monitoring of the clinical team contract/objectives.
Person specification
Values
Essential criteria
- Continuous Improvement
- Accountability
- Respectfulness
- Enthusiasm
- Support
- High professional standards
- Responsive to service users
- Engaging leadership style
- Strong customer service belief
- Transparency and honesty
- Discreet
- Change oriented
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- BSc. Nutrition and Dietetics or relevant degree with postgraduate diploma in Dietetics
- Current Health and Care Professions Council Registration for Dietetics
- Mentorship and/or Student Training qualification e.g., SAS training.
Desirable criteria
- Full member of the British Dietetic Association
- Demonstrable post registration/qualification
- Completion of parenteral and enteral nutrition group (PENG) course
- Management and clinical leadership course or qualification
Knowledge/Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of successful multiagency workin
- Demonstrable experience in relevant area of practice
- Evidence of CPD/Short courses
- Awareness of current national and local health and social care strategy and policies
- Understanding of partnership working
- Understanding of the principles of caremanagement
- Awareness of factors that contribute to good health and the importance of promoting these in line with organisational public health policy.
- Evidence of being able to communicate complexinformation and advice on healthcare to patients/clients, carers and colleagues
- Previous experience working as a Dietitian either in the inpatient or outpatient setting.
- Providing training or shadowing for other health professionals or trainees.
- Experience delivering patient education or health promotion.
- Experience of clinical audit, service development or quality improvement
- Enteral feeding or nutrition support experience
- Experience working as part of a multidisciplinary team (MDT).
- Knowledge and experience in the reporting and investigation of patient safety incidents.
Desirable criteria
- Management and clinical leadership experience
- Motivational interviewing and behavioural change training
- Experience using eregistration systems for home enteral feed discharges
- Membership of specialist group of British Dietetic Association
- Experience of being an appraiser
Skills
Essential criteria
- Able to prioritise a defined clinical caseload.
- Time management and organisational skills.
- Ability to carry out anthropometric measurements.
- Able to undertake a nutritional assessment considering all relevant factors to formulate a Dietetic diagnosis and care plan and setting goalbased outcomes with service users
- Knowledge of current best practice in Dietetics.
- Autonomous practitioner.
- Ability to reflect and critically appraise own performance.
- Awareness of local and national guidelines relevant to Dietetics e.g., NICE, BDA.
- Awareness of research methods and audit skills to inform and evaluate practice
- Basic knowledge of the principles of clinical governance and health and safety and risk awareness
- Understanding of professional conduct and confidentiality.
- Ability to build effective working relationships
- Effective personal organisational skills.
- Keep an up-to-date CPD portfolio
- Written and oral communication skills in English sufficient to communicate effectively with patients to gain consent, explain treatment interventions and gain information required for the patient’s medical/ social history relevant to Dietetics.
- Basic computer skills e.g., word processing, MS Teams, email, internet skills. Access to a suitable means of transport to enable the post holder to commute across the Trust footprint
Personal Attributes
Essential criteria
- Ability to comply with Trust Policy
- Willingness to be flexible to deliver unexpected or unusual circumstances relating to patient care.
- A commitment to continuous learning and personal development of self.
- Support the learning and development of others including Dietetic Assistants, Assistant Practitioners, Student Dietitians, Apprentice Dietitians, Band 5 Dietitians and other AHPs
- Satisfactory DBS clearance
- Satisfactory references
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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 Chatt
- Job title
- Dietetics Team Lead - Southport and Formby
- Email address
- [email protected]
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