Community Dietitian

East Coast Community Healthcare CIC

The closing date is 14 April 2025

Job summary

Are you a self-motivated and resourceful Dietitian looking to further your experience and knowledge in community dietetics? This may be your exciting opportunity to join our small and friendly team working within East Coast Community Healthcare CIC (ECCH) and recent winners of Clinical team of the year award in 2024.

This is an eight months fixed term contract to cover a sabbatical and is an ideal opportunity to develop or consolidate your experience in community dietetics and home enteral feeds within a small supportive team.

You will have a varied clinical caseload working between clinics, community hospital, care homes and domiciliary visits within this predominately rural geographic area. This is a chance to make a real difference to the nutrition and wellbeing of the patients and carers, many of whom have life limiting conditions. You will be well supported by the team and training will be given via clinical supervision and mentoring. We support hybrid working, when appropriate, ensuring the needs of the service are met. For the right candidate, working from home full time would be considered.

There will be opportunities to share your knowledge and skill via teaching sessions to other professionals mainly promoting the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool. You will also provide clinical support /supervision to junior dietetic colleagues, pre-registration students and become involved with service development.

Main duties of the job

To work as an autonomous practitioner in providing specialist dietary advice, including home enteral feeds, within the agreed geographical area. Completing assessments, goal setting and monitoring their own designated caseload of patients in domiciliary, clinic and community settings.
To provide and contribute to the development of the adult community dietetic service.
To maintain up to date dietetic records in line with professional standards.
To use evidence based practice and specialist skill to assess, plan, implement and evaluate interventions.
To provide education and training to other health professionals, community staff and patient groups.
To undertake a mutually agreed set of objectives through the personal development plan, participate in CPD and other developmental activities.
To work with other members of the multidisciplinary team and deliver teaching and supervision to qualified staff, Dietetic Assistants and students.

About us

ECCH is a well established health care provider and has been successfully delivering NHS care within the community since 2011. We provide a range of NHS, community health and social care services predominantly across the easterly region of the Norfolk/Suffolk borders.

We are aligned to NHS terms and conditions, and offer many employee benefits, to find out more about us visit our website - www.ecch.org. We are a social enterprise and staff owned organisation which means staff can opt to be shareholders and have a real say in how ECCH is run and evolves to deliver healthcare for the future.

At the heart of our ambition, we work in partnership with and for the community to become the provider and employer of choice for community healthcare.

We encourage you to apply as early as possible as this job may close earlier than the advertised closing date once enough applications have been received.

The Community Dietetic team has been a valued member of East Coast Community Healthcare since 2019. We are a small team but work closely with the wider MDT and neighbouring Dietetic services. We are flexible, approachable and open to new ideas. ECCH has been encouraging remote working and the dietetic team is well resourced and supported to work independently out of the office. We are cost conscious, flexible and are paper light. The Community Dietetic team was awarded clinical team of the year during the staff awards 2024.

Date posted

31 March 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£37,338 to £44,962 a year

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

8 months

Working pattern

Full-time, Flexible working, Home or remote working

Reference number

B9849-005-25B

Job locations

Kirkley Mill Health Centre

Lowestoft

Suffolk

NR33 0HF

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical

To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of your own work including the management of patients in your care. To ensure high standards of clinical care for the patients under your management and support other to do likewise.

To teach patients and their carers on methods of feed delivery, tube care and the care of stoma sites.

To plan and provide appropriate training for other healthcare professionals involved with artificial nutrition.

To act as a point of contact and source of expertise for internal and external enquiries to the service concerning your area of expertise.

To provide dietetic care to patients in a range of venues including: community clinics; learning disability homes; nursing/residential homes; community hospital ward and domiciliary visits.

To promote the use of the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool, adapting this if applicable for nursing and residential homes.

To communicate effectively with patients and carers to maximise their potential and to ensure understanding of the condition and the care plan. Communication skills of persuasion, motivation and explanation will be used with a variety of patients. Some of which may have difficulties understanding or communicating.

Communicate effectively with all members of the integrated community teams, GPs, Consultants and other professions to ensure a collaborative approach to the management of patients conditions.

To assess capacity, gain valid consent and have the ability to work with the legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment.

Participate in the clinical cover for community colleagues on annual, sick or study leave when required.

Professional

To maintain own clinical professional development by keeping abreast of evidence based practice and developments and incorporate them as necessary into your work. To be an active member of the in-service training programme.

To adhere to the standards of conduct, performance and ethics and the Dietitians standard of proficiency of the Health Care Professions Council.

Maintain accurate and up to date documentation in line with legal and departmental requirements and communicate assessment and treatment results to the appropriate disciplines in the form of reports and letters.

To communicate effectively and work collaboratively with multidisciplinary team colleagues across the health economy to ensure delivery of a co-ordinated integrated service.

Identify objectives for personal development and participate in the staff appraisals scheme and personal development programme.

Organisational:

Responsible for a designated area of work in accordance with the needs of the service and agreed with team lead.

Plan and organise this effectively and efficiently with regards to patient management and use of time.

Decide priorities for own work area balancing other patient related and professional demands and ensure that these remain in accordance with those of the service as a whole.

To be actively involved in the collection of appropriate data and statistics for the use of the department.

To comply with the organisational and departmental polices and procedures and be involved in the reviewing and updating as appropriate.

To lead by action and inspire others activity as a role model, demonstrating the leadership behaviours and values identified by the organisation aims and objectives. Promoting the organisation, the role of the dietitian and the importance of nutritional care.

Any other duties which might be considered appropriate by the clinical and professional lead.

All roles within East Coast Community Healthcare CIC (ECCH) require staff to demonstrate our Values and Signature Behaviours in the care and service they provide to patients, service users, stakeholders and colleagues. All members of staff should consider these as an essential part of their job role.

Our Values outline the core behaviours that we can all achieve and are summarised as an acronym within the word CARE. These stand for: Compassion, Action, Respect and Everyone.

Underpinning our Values are our Signature Behaviours which highlight by taking the right actions we continue to build a strong culture. Our four Signature Behaviours are: Compassion - We Listen, We Learn, We Lead| Action - My Accountability, My Responsibility | Respect - Respect Our Resources: People, Time and Money | Everyone - Work Together, Achieve Together.