Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Highly Specialist Dietitian to join the Royal Brompton Hospital Cystic Fibrosis (CF) team.
The post holder will provide holistic nutritional care to adults with CF, working alongside a team of other dietitians who hold collective responsibility for the planning, co-ordinating, delivering and evaluating the specialist CF dietetic service.
They will work within a dynamic multi-professional therapy team (physiotherapy, dietetics and psychology) and be closely supported by the wider MDT, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists.
It is an extremely exciting time for CF as new, highly effective therapies mean that the way we provide care and manage this condition is evolving. We are looking for a forward-thinking, dynamic, experienced dietitian to help shape the way we provide care for our patients, including those facing changing nutritional priorities.
If you are an experienced dietitian who is interested in CF and chronic disease management, and you would like the opportunity to work in a world-leading, specialist service, then please apply. This role may appeal to those who are already in a band 7 post or those with suitable experience looking to build these skills for the first time.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be a highly specialist clinician and core member of the adult CF therapy team.They will work alongside other experienced CF dietetic colleagues and will provide support and leadership to band 6 dietetic colleagues.
The role will involve:
- Taking a lead role in the advanced nutritional assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of adults with CF. This will include both inpatient and outpatient management, including both face-to-face and virtual consultations.
- Leading in the planning, co-ordination, delivery and evaluation of the CF, dietetic and wider rehab & therapies services.
- Multidisciplinary team working and consultation with staff, including doctors, nurses, and other members of the CF therapy team.
- Being a highly specialist resource and providing education and training to students as well asmedical and multi-disciplinary colleagues
- Supervising junior members of the adult CF and / or dietetic teams.
- Utilising quality improvement andresearch skills for audit, policy and service development, as well as clinical research
- Supporting and deputising for the Adult CF Clinical Specialty Lead if required.
- Engaging with the wider CF national / international community, for example within professional networks and relevant conferences.
More information about the role is available within the attached job description.
About us
The Royal Brompton Hospital Adult CF Centre is one of the largest centres in Europe, treating approximately 600 patients from the age of 17 years.
The centre has a strong international reputation and is a world leader in research and development, and in pioneering new models of healthcare such as remote monitoring for personalised virtual services.
It benefits from a highly experienced and dedicated multidisciplinary team who strive to provide high quality, evidence-based healthcare in a supportive and caring environment.
Job description
Job responsibilities
1. Communication
- To communicate effectively and work collaboratively with medical, nursing, allied health professional and other colleagues to ensure delivery of a co-ordinated multi-disciplinary service. This will include case conferences, ward rounds, discharge planning and joint working.
- Have the ability to develop good working relationships, facilitating respect and support of equivalent members of the MDT, dietetic colleagues and externally.
- To communicate effectively and in a sensitive and empathetic manner with patients who have a chronic illness (cystic fibrosis, cystic fibrosis related diabetes), are experiencing significant psychological issues (transplant assessment, undergoing end of life issues/ palliative care, secondary complications) or have barriers to understanding (poor cognition, adherence problems, psychological/ psychosocial barriers, long stay respiratory patients).
- To competently communicate the outcomes of nutritional assessment, diagnosis and treatment plans to patients, carers, staff and in multidisciplinary meetings / ward rounds. This includes verbal and written communication.
- Communicate with outside agencies (e.g., GPs, community dietitians, home enteral feeding and other CF services) about patient care where appropriate.
- To work closely with other dietetic teams across the Trust, including the respiratory, transplant and critical care/surgery team.
- To maintain visibility internally and externally, participating at national or international meetings (may include presentation of posters and abstracts) and giving informal and formal talks to staff, patients and students when requested.
2. Patient care (direct and indirect)
- To provide a clinical dietetic service to adult cystic fibrosis patients, both working autonomously and in conjunction with the other CF Specialist Dietitians.
- This will include the provision of specialist nutritional and therapeutic dietary advice to patients on wards, the day unit and within outpatient clinics.
- This will involve nutritional diagnosis (interpretation of biochemistry, anthropometrics, clinical and dietary intake information), the development of treatment plans (frequently including complexities surrounding calculation of nutritional requirements, development of patient centred goals and considering medical, physical, social and psychological needs).
- This work is often complex whereby factors such as advanced respiratory disease, new/evolving therapies and the presence of a secondary diagnosis (diabetes, liver disease, osteoporosis and other gastrointestinal disorders) may need to be considered.
- There may be limited clinical guidelines available and the ability to utilise advanced clinical reasoning skills and specialist experience is key.
- To work closely with colleagues to deliver a coordinated and holistic multi-disciplinary service to optimise patient care. This includes working with the catering team with respect to special dietary requirements.
- To maintain clinical responsibility for a designated caseload of inpatients outpatients, and to organise this effectively and efficiently according to clinical prioritisation and other service demands.
- To refer patients to other professionals as appropriate e.g., psychology, clinical nurse specialist, welfare rights advisor.
- To provide up-to-date dietary information and education materials for patients and to participate in special events, such as health promotion activities.
- To have a high level of expertise in relation to oral and enteral nutrition support, including managing patients who are on home enteral feeding. To maintain responsibility for safe and effective community discharges for patients who have recently had an enteral feeding tube placed.
3. People Management
- To receive regular professional supervision and to meaningfully engage with the appraisal / objective setting process, having clear professional and personal objectives to maximise own potential and help achieve both personal and service level goals.
- To provide clinical and professional supervision to junior staff and students, thus supporting their development and training. This may include line management responsibilities, including appraisal / objective setting, management of performance, absence, and annual leave (according to relevant trust policy and guidance).
- To ensure the development, maintenance, and dissemination of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, including the departmental in-service training programme.
- To provide a safe and attractive working environment for team members within available resources.
- To promote equality, diversity and inclusion within the team/workplace, fighting against discrimination, promoting positive attitudes and ensuring equal access to services and opportunities.
- To deputise for the Clinical Specialty Lead as required and, when requested, represent the profession, service or directorate at specified meetings or on committees.
- To participate, when requested in staff recruitment, both in the short-listing process and as a member of interview panels for both dietetic and other health professionals.
- To supervise and teach student dietitians, both those undertaking their clinical placement and those involved in projects as part of their degree.
4. Policy and Service Development
- To work with and support the Clinical Specialty Lead, Associate Director of Rehab and Therapies and other senior dietitians in developing and implementing the strategic and operational goals of the CF therapy and wider dietetic services.
- To actively participate in initiatives to drive change within CF, working to improve patient care and experience.
- To be involved in the development of relevant clinical best practice guidelines and standards of care.
- To represent the dietetic and / or CF therapy team at management level as required, ensuring that dietitians have a real voice in the development of clinical / therapy services, advocating for best nutritional practice.
- To ensure that the dietetic service is continuously evolving to meet local and national guidelines for the care of cystic fibrosis patients.
- To comply with the organisational and departmental policies and procedures, and where required, to participate in their evaluation, review and updating. To ensure that designated staff implement policy and service development changes.
- To demonstrate a sound understanding of clinical governance and risk management and apply to work situations.
- To prioritise service development goals within clinical and professional specialty, balance these with patient-related and external demands and align them to the wider team strategy and organisational objectives. To support more junior staff within the team to similarly prioritise.
5. Research & Development
- To undertake the evaluation, monitoring and development of your work and current practices through the use of clinical audit, service evaluation, quality improvement initiatives and / or research, either individually or with other MDT members, physiotherapy or CF lead
- To utilise theory, literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
- To make recommendations for change based on audit, evaluation and research activities.
- To support and involve other members of the CF therapy team, including junior staff, within clinical research and other relevant projects, where appropriate.
- To comply with, the Trusts requirements on research governance.
6. Information management
- To maintain appropriate computer and manual clinical records in line with Trust / local policy.
- To engage in relevant computer and IT training as required, including Information Governance mandatory training.
- To input and maintain appropriate statistical and data and provide this to the Therapy Lead/Director when necessary.
- To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping in accordance with professional codes of practice and Trust policies and procedures.
7. Other duties
- To undertake any other duties commensurate with the grade as requested
- To be aware of and actively implement health and safety policies and frameworks to encourage a safety culture within the team. This involves the prompt recording and reporting of accidents via incident reporting channels and line management.
- To attend and play a role in corporate groups as a representative of the directorate and team, and to represent the Trust at regional and national conferences and on working groups, as appropriate.
- To demonstrate highly developed time management skills within both clinical and non-clinical responsibilities
- To maintain own continued professional development (CPD) by keeping abreast of any new trends and developments and incorporate them as necessary into your work.
To abide by the NHS Code of conduct, the Trusts Core behaviours for staff and all other Trust policies, codes, and practices, including standing financial instructions, research governance, clinical governance, patient and public involvement and health and safety.
Job description
Job responsibilities
1. Communication
- To communicate effectively and work collaboratively with medical, nursing, allied health professional and other colleagues to ensure delivery of a co-ordinated multi-disciplinary service. This will include case conferences, ward rounds, discharge planning and joint working.
- Have the ability to develop good working relationships, facilitating respect and support of equivalent members of the MDT, dietetic colleagues and externally.
- To communicate effectively and in a sensitive and empathetic manner with patients who have a chronic illness (cystic fibrosis, cystic fibrosis related diabetes), are experiencing significant psychological issues (transplant assessment, undergoing end of life issues/ palliative care, secondary complications) or have barriers to understanding (poor cognition, adherence problems, psychological/ psychosocial barriers, long stay respiratory patients).
- To competently communicate the outcomes of nutritional assessment, diagnosis and treatment plans to patients, carers, staff and in multidisciplinary meetings / ward rounds. This includes verbal and written communication.
- Communicate with outside agencies (e.g., GPs, community dietitians, home enteral feeding and other CF services) about patient care where appropriate.
- To work closely with other dietetic teams across the Trust, including the respiratory, transplant and critical care/surgery team.
- To maintain visibility internally and externally, participating at national or international meetings (may include presentation of posters and abstracts) and giving informal and formal talks to staff, patients and students when requested.
2. Patient care (direct and indirect)
- To provide a clinical dietetic service to adult cystic fibrosis patients, both working autonomously and in conjunction with the other CF Specialist Dietitians.
- This will include the provision of specialist nutritional and therapeutic dietary advice to patients on wards, the day unit and within outpatient clinics.
- This will involve nutritional diagnosis (interpretation of biochemistry, anthropometrics, clinical and dietary intake information), the development of treatment plans (frequently including complexities surrounding calculation of nutritional requirements, development of patient centred goals and considering medical, physical, social and psychological needs).
- This work is often complex whereby factors such as advanced respiratory disease, new/evolving therapies and the presence of a secondary diagnosis (diabetes, liver disease, osteoporosis and other gastrointestinal disorders) may need to be considered.
- There may be limited clinical guidelines available and the ability to utilise advanced clinical reasoning skills and specialist experience is key.
- To work closely with colleagues to deliver a coordinated and holistic multi-disciplinary service to optimise patient care. This includes working with the catering team with respect to special dietary requirements.
- To maintain clinical responsibility for a designated caseload of inpatients outpatients, and to organise this effectively and efficiently according to clinical prioritisation and other service demands.
- To refer patients to other professionals as appropriate e.g., psychology, clinical nurse specialist, welfare rights advisor.
- To provide up-to-date dietary information and education materials for patients and to participate in special events, such as health promotion activities.
- To have a high level of expertise in relation to oral and enteral nutrition support, including managing patients who are on home enteral feeding. To maintain responsibility for safe and effective community discharges for patients who have recently had an enteral feeding tube placed.
3. People Management
- To receive regular professional supervision and to meaningfully engage with the appraisal / objective setting process, having clear professional and personal objectives to maximise own potential and help achieve both personal and service level goals.
- To provide clinical and professional supervision to junior staff and students, thus supporting their development and training. This may include line management responsibilities, including appraisal / objective setting, management of performance, absence, and annual leave (according to relevant trust policy and guidance).
- To ensure the development, maintenance, and dissemination of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, including the departmental in-service training programme.
- To provide a safe and attractive working environment for team members within available resources.
- To promote equality, diversity and inclusion within the team/workplace, fighting against discrimination, promoting positive attitudes and ensuring equal access to services and opportunities.
- To deputise for the Clinical Specialty Lead as required and, when requested, represent the profession, service or directorate at specified meetings or on committees.
- To participate, when requested in staff recruitment, both in the short-listing process and as a member of interview panels for both dietetic and other health professionals.
- To supervise and teach student dietitians, both those undertaking their clinical placement and those involved in projects as part of their degree.
4. Policy and Service Development
- To work with and support the Clinical Specialty Lead, Associate Director of Rehab and Therapies and other senior dietitians in developing and implementing the strategic and operational goals of the CF therapy and wider dietetic services.
- To actively participate in initiatives to drive change within CF, working to improve patient care and experience.
- To be involved in the development of relevant clinical best practice guidelines and standards of care.
- To represent the dietetic and / or CF therapy team at management level as required, ensuring that dietitians have a real voice in the development of clinical / therapy services, advocating for best nutritional practice.
- To ensure that the dietetic service is continuously evolving to meet local and national guidelines for the care of cystic fibrosis patients.
- To comply with the organisational and departmental policies and procedures, and where required, to participate in their evaluation, review and updating. To ensure that designated staff implement policy and service development changes.
- To demonstrate a sound understanding of clinical governance and risk management and apply to work situations.
- To prioritise service development goals within clinical and professional specialty, balance these with patient-related and external demands and align them to the wider team strategy and organisational objectives. To support more junior staff within the team to similarly prioritise.
5. Research & Development
- To undertake the evaluation, monitoring and development of your work and current practices through the use of clinical audit, service evaluation, quality improvement initiatives and / or research, either individually or with other MDT members, physiotherapy or CF lead
- To utilise theory, literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
- To make recommendations for change based on audit, evaluation and research activities.
- To support and involve other members of the CF therapy team, including junior staff, within clinical research and other relevant projects, where appropriate.
- To comply with, the Trusts requirements on research governance.
6. Information management
- To maintain appropriate computer and manual clinical records in line with Trust / local policy.
- To engage in relevant computer and IT training as required, including Information Governance mandatory training.
- To input and maintain appropriate statistical and data and provide this to the Therapy Lead/Director when necessary.
- To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping in accordance with professional codes of practice and Trust policies and procedures.
7. Other duties
- To undertake any other duties commensurate with the grade as requested
- To be aware of and actively implement health and safety policies and frameworks to encourage a safety culture within the team. This involves the prompt recording and reporting of accidents via incident reporting channels and line management.
- To attend and play a role in corporate groups as a representative of the directorate and team, and to represent the Trust at regional and national conferences and on working groups, as appropriate.
- To demonstrate highly developed time management skills within both clinical and non-clinical responsibilities
- To maintain own continued professional development (CPD) by keeping abreast of any new trends and developments and incorporate them as necessary into your work.
To abide by the NHS Code of conduct, the Trusts Core behaviours for staff and all other Trust policies, codes, and practices, including standing financial instructions, research governance, clinical governance, patient and public involvement and health and safety.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- HCPC registered
- Relevant Qualification (BSc/Postgrd Dip)
Desirable
- Student Educators Course
- BDA membership
- Additional relevant clinical training (CF, GI, respiratory, diabetes etc,)
Skills
Essential
- Nutrition support
- Working independently
- Communication skills
- Time management skills, balancing workload
- IT skills
Desirable
- Behaviour change, motivation, or negotiation skills.
- Body composition data interpretation
Experience
Essential
- Significant Postgraduate acute experience
- Training and education
- Team working
- Audit / QI / service development
- Student training
Desirable
- Clinical experience with CF, chronic illness / end of life, home enteral feeding, Gastro / diabetes
- Research experience
- Leadership
- Technology to enhance practice
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- HCPC registered
- Relevant Qualification (BSc/Postgrd Dip)
Desirable
- Student Educators Course
- BDA membership
- Additional relevant clinical training (CF, GI, respiratory, diabetes etc,)
Skills
Essential
- Nutrition support
- Working independently
- Communication skills
- Time management skills, balancing workload
- IT skills
Desirable
- Behaviour change, motivation, or negotiation skills.
- Body composition data interpretation
Experience
Essential
- Significant Postgraduate acute experience
- Training and education
- Team working
- Audit / QI / service development
- Student training
Desirable
- Clinical experience with CF, chronic illness / end of life, home enteral feeding, Gastro / diabetes
- Research experience
- Leadership
- Technology to enhance practice
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
