Job summary
We are seeking a highly experienced dietitian to work closely with the Cancer Head and Neck specialist team and the Oncology/Haematology cancer specialist dietitian team to develop, lead and provide a specialist service for outpatients and inpatients supporting the work of the cancer teams to support the cancer patient journey.
This is a fantastic opportunity for career development, to further develop and strengthen skills in clinical practice, Cancer care, leadership, education and training and research.
Main duties of the job
Co-ordinate and support the H&N service, within designated clinics, day case and inpatient care.
Work as an autonomous dietetic practitioner, taking the lead in the comprehensive assessment of the route of nutritional support, nutritional requirements, provision of optimal, safe, nutritional therapy and assessment of efficacy of nutritional support, and specific nutrition therapy for complex patients under the care of the cancer teams.
Design and implement a completely dietetic led coeliac disease service including direct to dietitian triage from primary care. To include assessing newly diagnosed patients, providing comprehensive patient education and support to patients and their carers or relatives, responsibility for monitoring biochemistry, liaising with the H&N Consultant, Oncologist, Haematologist for specific patients and guiding GPs as needed.
Design and implement direct to dietitian IBS service from primary care (including setting up service with clear pathway, evaluation, improvement and education of primary care) with support of consultant gastroenterologists.
Provide cohesive dietetic care for H&N and Cancer patients, providing cover for the Oncology Dietitian as required.
About us
Why Work With Us
About your new team and department
This post is based at Torbay Hospital within the Cancer service H&N multi professional . This post will lead and cover the H&N speciality for nutrition care. working with the Cancer service dietitian lead and the team and will liaise with the Acute team as part of the wider dietetic team including Community, Diabetes, Paediatrics, Weight Management, as patient care requires . This post is part of the Cancer Support Team (CST) The team is actively involved with training of student dietitians from Plymouth University.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Communication and working relationships
- To work as the lead dietetic member of the Cancer H&N team
- To communicate and establish working relationships with:
o H&N, Oncology & Haematology consultants, CNS teams, AHP's, ward managers and matrons and the wider teams
o Allied health professionals
o Cancer MDT, rehabilitation teams, ward medical and nursing teams
o Nutrition team and nutrition nurse specialists
o Home Enteral Feeding (HEF) Dietitians and HEF Team
o Catering department
o Local dietetic team, including acute teams of dietitians, community dietitians, diabetes dietitians, Primary Care Network (PCN) dietitians
o Students dietetic and other professions
o Other health and social care professionals
Planning and organisation
- To manage own clinical caseload as an autonomous practitioner within the H&N service
- To manage own time, prioritise clinical referrals and manage the demands received from different parts of the service
- Actively evaluate the dietetic H&N service, identifying any areas for development, together with support from senior members of Cancer H&N team.
- To plan, organise, deliver, and evaluate training sessions to a variety of groups including health and social care professionals and patients. Training may be face to face or via virtual platforms.
Responsibility and accountability
- To be the nutritional lead/support for development of dietetic services in the cancer H&N team.
- To deliver dietetic care to a caseload of complex adult patients in collaboration with the CNS and the H&N MDT and other MDTs as required
- To provide a source of expert knowledge and advice on nutrition to the H&N and cancer services.
Responsibility for patients and client care
- To lead provision of evidence-based, individualised, disease specific and often complex dietary/nutritional treatment plans for H&N, Cancer patients with, appropriate review and evaluation of these plans
- To be responsible for reviewing, monitoring and making appropriate clinical changes to each patients dietetic care plan based on medical, emotional, ethical and social developments in addition to multidisciplinary decisions on the patients care
- To use behaviour change and advanced communication techniques to support and aid compliance with recommended dietary/nutritional treatment plans
- To explain treatment plans (verbal and or written) in an easily understandable way to patients, carers and relatives and other relevant individuals, to enable patients to make informed choices about their own health
- To provide resources such as patient information leaflets, recipes and menu plans and to signpost them to other resources where appropriate (e.g. NHS patient webinars, relevant charities and support groups).
- To provide dietetic care, both practical and empathetic, for people requiring long-term nutrition support or long-term dietary changes (including those who may be in the end stages of their life) with gastroenterology diagnoses
- To be pro-active in initiating appropriate dietetic treatment and/or referral, and to signpost to other appropriate services
- To advise on commencing enteral nutrition (either orally or by way of a variety of tube feeding routes dependent on gut anatomy and function) and transitioning between routes
- To request, review and interpret blood biochemistry results to monitor the safety and efficacy of nutritional support, and make clinical changes where necessary
- To understand and be fully aware of the range of oral nutrition support products, enteral tube feeds and associated equipment
- To be responsible for recommending nutritional supplements
- To recommend nutritional supplements for prescription (e.g. from GP, or hospital doctors where appropriate)
- To ensure safe and timely discharge of tube fed patients from hospital to home, with the support of the nutrition team, ward staff and home enteral feeding team including monitoring of high-risk patients (e.g. those being fed post-pylorically or with complex gastrointestinal needs) on home enteral feeding in the community
- To advise off script enteral tube feeds for home use
- To maintain accurate and timely documentation of patient interactions and clinical care provided in line with record keeping standards
Policy and service responsibility
- To lead the development of policies, resources and guidelines relevant to this role, with the support from gastroenterology
- To contribute to the wider service development of the dietetic service
- To follow Trust policies and procedures
- To undertake clinical practice in line with local policy and guidelines, such as refeeding, enteral feeding and nutrition screening
- To relate clinical practice to broader clinical guidelines, including NICE
- To promote the role and value of the Dietitian in all aspects of nutritional care
Responsibility for finance, equipment and other resources
- To promote the clinical and cost-effective use of oral nutritional supplements, for example, when inpatients are discharged from hospital into the community
Responsibility for supervision, leadership and management
- To provide nutrition expertise within the Cancer teams
Information technology and administrative duties
- To use Trust IT systems
- To accurately record own Dietetic activity using computerised statistics and to collate this data for service evaluation and development purposes
- To use Attend Anywhere or equivalent for patient assessments, when clinically appropriate
- To prepare own presentations, reports, and documents
- Maintain clinical records including Dietetic records and GP letters and in line with professional and department standards. Use electronic patient records where available
- To work within the requirements of Data protection legislation and access to health records
- To communicate via email, social media and other internal IT systems
Responsibility for research and development
- To be responsible for own and gastroenterology dietetic services continued professional development and be proactive within annual Achievement Reviews and monthly 121s
- To maintain and improve professional knowledge through CPD (continued professional development), for example, journal review, shadowing, attendance at courses/conferences/webinars as agreed with the Team and the wider dietetic department
- To liaise with other specialist dietitians
- To work within the HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council) Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics and the BDA (British Dietetic Association) Code of Professional Conduct
- To proactively identify and lead project work to develop the service to provide high quality nutritional care to patients
Job description
Job responsibilities
Communication and working relationships
- To work as the lead dietetic member of the Cancer H&N team
- To communicate and establish working relationships with:
o H&N, Oncology & Haematology consultants, CNS teams, AHP's, ward managers and matrons and the wider teams
o Allied health professionals
o Cancer MDT, rehabilitation teams, ward medical and nursing teams
o Nutrition team and nutrition nurse specialists
o Home Enteral Feeding (HEF) Dietitians and HEF Team
o Catering department
o Local dietetic team, including acute teams of dietitians, community dietitians, diabetes dietitians, Primary Care Network (PCN) dietitians
o Students dietetic and other professions
o Other health and social care professionals
Planning and organisation
- To manage own clinical caseload as an autonomous practitioner within the H&N service
- To manage own time, prioritise clinical referrals and manage the demands received from different parts of the service
- Actively evaluate the dietetic H&N service, identifying any areas for development, together with support from senior members of Cancer H&N team.
- To plan, organise, deliver, and evaluate training sessions to a variety of groups including health and social care professionals and patients. Training may be face to face or via virtual platforms.
Responsibility and accountability
- To be the nutritional lead/support for development of dietetic services in the cancer H&N team.
- To deliver dietetic care to a caseload of complex adult patients in collaboration with the CNS and the H&N MDT and other MDTs as required
- To provide a source of expert knowledge and advice on nutrition to the H&N and cancer services.
Responsibility for patients and client care
- To lead provision of evidence-based, individualised, disease specific and often complex dietary/nutritional treatment plans for H&N, Cancer patients with, appropriate review and evaluation of these plans
- To be responsible for reviewing, monitoring and making appropriate clinical changes to each patients dietetic care plan based on medical, emotional, ethical and social developments in addition to multidisciplinary decisions on the patients care
- To use behaviour change and advanced communication techniques to support and aid compliance with recommended dietary/nutritional treatment plans
- To explain treatment plans (verbal and or written) in an easily understandable way to patients, carers and relatives and other relevant individuals, to enable patients to make informed choices about their own health
- To provide resources such as patient information leaflets, recipes and menu plans and to signpost them to other resources where appropriate (e.g. NHS patient webinars, relevant charities and support groups).
- To provide dietetic care, both practical and empathetic, for people requiring long-term nutrition support or long-term dietary changes (including those who may be in the end stages of their life) with gastroenterology diagnoses
- To be pro-active in initiating appropriate dietetic treatment and/or referral, and to signpost to other appropriate services
- To advise on commencing enteral nutrition (either orally or by way of a variety of tube feeding routes dependent on gut anatomy and function) and transitioning between routes
- To request, review and interpret blood biochemistry results to monitor the safety and efficacy of nutritional support, and make clinical changes where necessary
- To understand and be fully aware of the range of oral nutrition support products, enteral tube feeds and associated equipment
- To be responsible for recommending nutritional supplements
- To recommend nutritional supplements for prescription (e.g. from GP, or hospital doctors where appropriate)
- To ensure safe and timely discharge of tube fed patients from hospital to home, with the support of the nutrition team, ward staff and home enteral feeding team including monitoring of high-risk patients (e.g. those being fed post-pylorically or with complex gastrointestinal needs) on home enteral feeding in the community
- To advise off script enteral tube feeds for home use
- To maintain accurate and timely documentation of patient interactions and clinical care provided in line with record keeping standards
Policy and service responsibility
- To lead the development of policies, resources and guidelines relevant to this role, with the support from gastroenterology
- To contribute to the wider service development of the dietetic service
- To follow Trust policies and procedures
- To undertake clinical practice in line with local policy and guidelines, such as refeeding, enteral feeding and nutrition screening
- To relate clinical practice to broader clinical guidelines, including NICE
- To promote the role and value of the Dietitian in all aspects of nutritional care
Responsibility for finance, equipment and other resources
- To promote the clinical and cost-effective use of oral nutritional supplements, for example, when inpatients are discharged from hospital into the community
Responsibility for supervision, leadership and management
- To provide nutrition expertise within the Cancer teams
Information technology and administrative duties
- To use Trust IT systems
- To accurately record own Dietetic activity using computerised statistics and to collate this data for service evaluation and development purposes
- To use Attend Anywhere or equivalent for patient assessments, when clinically appropriate
- To prepare own presentations, reports, and documents
- Maintain clinical records including Dietetic records and GP letters and in line with professional and department standards. Use electronic patient records where available
- To work within the requirements of Data protection legislation and access to health records
- To communicate via email, social media and other internal IT systems
Responsibility for research and development
- To be responsible for own and gastroenterology dietetic services continued professional development and be proactive within annual Achievement Reviews and monthly 121s
- To maintain and improve professional knowledge through CPD (continued professional development), for example, journal review, shadowing, attendance at courses/conferences/webinars as agreed with the Team and the wider dietetic department
- To liaise with other specialist dietitians
- To work within the HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council) Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics and the BDA (British Dietetic Association) Code of Professional Conduct
- To proactively identify and lead project work to develop the service to provide high quality nutritional care to patients
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- oDegree or equivalent qualification in Nutrition and Dietetics
- oEvidence of further masters level post-graduate study in functional gut disorders
- oSpecialist training and experience in behaviour change therapies
Desirable
- oClinical Supervisory skills course for student training
- oLeadership or management related studies
Knowledge and experience
Essential
- oPrevious experience at a senior level which must include broad clinical experience and specialist experience in gastroenterology and nutrition support using advanced clinical reasoning skills
- oEvidence of specialist training and experience in dietary management of people gastroenterological diagnoses
- oTo assess complex medical conditions, necessitating the analysis and comparison of a range of nutritional treatments options.
- oProven continuous professional development from attendance of specialist courses/webinars/conferences/meetings and impact on practice
Desirable
- oExperience of commencing, continuation and discontinuation of parenteral or enteral nutrition support
- oExperience of being a member of a Nutrition Support Team or other MDT and managing a caseload of both inpatients and outpatients receiving nutrition support.
- oExperience of developing, implementing, evaluating and updating dietetic services
Skills
Essential
- oHighly developed interpersonal skills enabling communication (both written and verbal) and negotiation at all levels within the MDT and with colleagues in other organisations
- oAbility to lead, motivate and influence senior clinicians to achieve patient centred outcomes which meet national standards
- oTo have good time management skills with ability to prioritise based on clinical need, including responding rapidly to urgent situations, phone calls and the "bleep"
Desirable
- oExperience of managing a complex nutrition support caseload, for both inpatients and outpatients
- oMembership and attendance at specialist education provided by relevant national and international groups such as BAPEN, PENG, ESPEN etc.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- oDegree or equivalent qualification in Nutrition and Dietetics
- oEvidence of further masters level post-graduate study in functional gut disorders
- oSpecialist training and experience in behaviour change therapies
Desirable
- oClinical Supervisory skills course for student training
- oLeadership or management related studies
Knowledge and experience
Essential
- oPrevious experience at a senior level which must include broad clinical experience and specialist experience in gastroenterology and nutrition support using advanced clinical reasoning skills
- oEvidence of specialist training and experience in dietary management of people gastroenterological diagnoses
- oTo assess complex medical conditions, necessitating the analysis and comparison of a range of nutritional treatments options.
- oProven continuous professional development from attendance of specialist courses/webinars/conferences/meetings and impact on practice
Desirable
- oExperience of commencing, continuation and discontinuation of parenteral or enteral nutrition support
- oExperience of being a member of a Nutrition Support Team or other MDT and managing a caseload of both inpatients and outpatients receiving nutrition support.
- oExperience of developing, implementing, evaluating and updating dietetic services
Skills
Essential
- oHighly developed interpersonal skills enabling communication (both written and verbal) and negotiation at all levels within the MDT and with colleagues in other organisations
- oAbility to lead, motivate and influence senior clinicians to achieve patient centred outcomes which meet national standards
- oTo have good time management skills with ability to prioritise based on clinical need, including responding rapidly to urgent situations, phone calls and the "bleep"
Desirable
- oExperience of managing a complex nutrition support caseload, for both inpatients and outpatients
- oMembership and attendance at specialist education provided by relevant national and international groups such as BAPEN, PENG, ESPEN etc.
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).
