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We are seeking an enthusiastic Dietitian to join our friendly team at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich. The role will cover Acute Medical, Orthopaedic, Cardiology, and Elderly care wards; including some input to the Frailty and Surgical Assessment Units to support flow of emergency patients, helping to avoid admission.

You can expect to work closely with other health care professionals to provide excellent patient care. You will be involved in ward rounds, MDT discussion, nutrition education, nutritional assessment and care planning. The role will suit an experienced or newly qualified Dietitian who is organised, innovative and able to meet the demands of a busy ward. You will have support from a Specialist Dietitian and the wider team of Specialist and Advanced Specialist Dietitians, Dietetic Assistants and administrator.

All team members are supported to participate in audit, service evaluations, Quality Improvement projects and CPD. Band 5 Dietitians are enrolled on our preceptorship program to further enhance their skills and development.

The Nutrition and Dietetic Service in Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust has a team of approximately 35 staff including, Dietitians, Dietetic Assistants, and support team staff covering the two acute hospitals in Lewisham and Greenwich, and Lewisham community.

This post offers an exciting opportunity for a newly qualified or experienced band 5 Dietitian to work in the friendly Nutrition and Dietetic Service team based at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich,

Post Title: Dietitian – Acute Medical, Orthopaedics, Cardiology, Frailty

Department: Nutrition & Dietetics

Responsible to: Deputy Head of Dietetics

Grade: Band 5

Hours: 37.5hrs per week

Contract: Permanent

Job Summary:
To provide an inpatient dietetic service to Acute Medical, Orthopaedic, Cardiology, and Frailty wards, under the direction and guidance of the Specialist Dietitian. To assess and monitor patients, offering nutritional support and dietary education. Provide dietetic input to the multidisciplinary team and advice for the catering staff to support the smooth flow of patients through the ward. Involved in provision of an Outpatient Dietetic Clinic. To contribute to service development through quality improvement projects, audit, patient experience monitoring and research.

Key Result Areas & Performance:

• Act as an independent practitioner and be professionally and legally accountable and responsible for all aspects of own work including a clinical caseload.
• Work independently to undertake nutritional assessments and calculate nutritional requirements of patients using anthropometry and taking into account medical, social and cultural factors.
• Communicate evidence based nutritional and dietary advice in an understandable form.
• Use communication and counselling skills such as reflective listening, open questioning, empathy, explanation and reassurance to communicate dietary intervention to patients and their carers.
• Gain valid consent to treatment and negotiate change with patients by breaking down barriers, using motivational skills, to enable them to achieve dietary targets set.
• Monitor and review nutritional care plans against outcome measures and adjust care plan to facilitate achievement of goals.
• Undertake designated outpatient clinics.
• Consult with peers when dealing with new or unfamiliar clinical specialities.
• Participate in multidisciplinary team meetings, as appropriate.
• Ensure safe and timely discharge of patients on enteral tube feeding by liaising with appropriate internal and external agencies.
• Provide dietetic cover to other wards during periods of annual leave/sick leave within clinical capability.
• Accurately record all assessment and interventions in medical notes in line with Trust policy.
• Communicate with other agencies about ongoing patient care after discharge.

Work force

• Receive and triage referrals
• Decide daily on priorities for own work area, balancing patient related and professional demands.
• Contribute to working parties and departmental meetings.
• Complete allocated projects and meet deadlines.
• Record patient activity data.
• Supervise Dietetic assistants
• Share the responsibility for maintaining departmental resource files.
• Support colleagues with cover arrangements and excess workflow in other wards
• Develop processes to ensure clinical assessment, monitoring and reporting is completed within working day.

Education and training:

• Contribute to the training of pre-registration dietetic students on clinical placement (subject to six months post-registration experience) by:
• participating in the development and revision of the training program
• acting as a role model
• undertaking clinical supervision, tutorials, feedback and assessment
• Assist in delivering formal and informal training to other health care professionals and staff groups.
• Plan, deliver and evaluate defined patient group, teaching sessions
• Contribute to the development of educational resources, which are evidence based and acceptable to patients and carers.

Communications and Relationships

The Post holder will impart sensitive information to patients and their relatives. The Post Holder will present and share clinical information with other healthcare professionals and students. The post holder will have daily communication with:

• Patients/carers
• Dietetic colleagues & other healthcare professionals
• Students - dietetic and non-dietetic
• Support staff
• Consultants, GPs and primary care teams
• Specialist groups
• External agencies - social services, nutrition companies

Clinical governance:

• Work within the Health & Care Professions Council’sStandards of Conduct, Performanceand EthicsandStandards of Proficiency.
• Attend trust induction training and mandatory training programmes.
• Identify personal training needs through participation in regular continuous professional development activities and individual performance review.
• Develop skills by attending relevant training courses and conferences.
• Maintain a personal portfolio as evidence of competence to practice.
• Undertake defined audit projects as part of clinical practice with support.
• Contribute to the development of departmental and evidence based treatment policies, guidelines, standards and protocols.