Lead Dietitian - Food First

Job responsibilities

This role is ideal for a dietitian with substantial community experience and a passion for service development and leadership. Youll bring strong communication, time management, and teamworking skills, along with the flexibility to adapt in a fast-paced environment.

Youll be part of a vibrant department based at Milton Keynes University Hospital, home to over 30 registered dietitians, dietetic support workers, and admin staff. Our service spans acute, community, paediatric, and learning disability care.

Leadership & management:

• To provide clinical and managerial leadership to the Food First team by working collaboratively with other Lead Dietitians and the Dietetic Service Lead
• To plan and co-ordinate the day-to-day provision of Food First team
• To provide leadership and oversight for the care home programme which works with all care homes for older people to meet and maintain the Care Quality Commissions (CQC) regulation 14 (meeting nutritional and hydration needs) and Enhanced Health in Care Homes (EHCH) priorities.

Clinical practice:

• To be professionally and legally accountable for all aspects of your own work, ensuring a high standard of clinical care for the patients under your management by supporting more junior staff to do likewise.
• To accept clinical responsibility for a designated caseload of community patients and to organise this effectively and efficiently regarding clinical priorities and use of time. To oversee the caseloads of more junior staff.
• To undertake comprehensive specialist assessment, treatment and discharge of patients including those with diverse and complex presentations and multiple pathologies. Use specialist clinical reasoning, evidence-based practice, investigative and analytical skills.

Professional duties:

• To maintain own competency to practice through CPD activities, demonstrating awareness of new trends and developments and their incorporation into practice as necessary.
• To actively participate in the in-service training programmes by attending and delivering presentations, tutorials, individual training sessions, peer review, external courses and professional clinical interest groups.

Governance:

• To demonstrate a sound understanding of Clinical Governance and Risk Management and their application to work situation.
• To assess and manage clinical risk within patient caseload in a wide variety of settings, providing guidance to junior staff.

Please refer to the job description for further details.

We believe success lies in the diversity of our employees and are committed to promoting equality, encouraging diversity and embracing inclusion. We welcome applications from everyone interested in working for us.

MKUH is committed to equal opportunities and improving the working lives of our staff and as such we offer a range of flexible working practices.

We reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once a sufficient number of applications have been received.

MKUH uses identification scanning technology to confirm the authenticity of documents; all prospective employees of MKUH will have their original documents verified using this technology.

By applying for this role, you accept if successful, that information from your application will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Record (ESR) system. Your personal data may be transferred from the Trust to another NHS organisation where your employment transfers within the NHS. This is in accordance with the streamlining programme which aims at saving you time and improving efficiencies within the NHS when your employment transfers.

Upon commencing employment with the Trust, all employees (except Medical & Dental Staff on national terms and conditions) are subject to a probationary period lasting a period of six months with an option to extend for a further six months to a total of 12 months.

Qualifications and knowledge

Essential

• Registered as a Dietitian with Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• Evidence of a range of specialist continuing professional development
• Member of relevant specialist interest group (Relevant to area of specialty)
• Student Supervisory Skills training
• Level 7 Qualification in Nutrition Support or equivalent experience
• Awareness of NHS and Trust systems, policies, procedures and current changes
• Sound therapeutic and clinical knowledge
• Ability to demonstrate knowledge and awareness of national guidelines relevant to specialist area
• Ability to demonstrate knowledge of evidence based clinical practice for a range of conditions relevant to area of speciality

Desirable

• Membership of relevant professional association i.e. British Dietetic Association (BDA)
• Management or leadership training or qualification

Experience

Essential

• Significant experience in applying Therapeutic process to include assessment, interpretation, individual care planning, motivation, monitoring and evaluation of highly specialised treatment in area of speciality
• Experience of working with patients in relevant specialist area
• Active member of multi-disciplinary team (MDT) including liaison with clinical specialists, GP, specialist nurses, community teams etc
• Supervision, appraisal and training of junior members of staff and students
• Ability to autonomously manage a caseload of highly complex patients
• Ability to undertake projects within specialist area e.g. using NICE guidance, benchmarking and clinical audit
• Ability to lead and participate in departmental audits and review of Trust Policy
• Proven leadership experience in relevant clinical specialty or similar clinical field
• Experience in service development /improvement, including project planning from objective setting to evaluating outcomes.
• Experience of organising and providing training for other health professionals
• Experience of developing and implementing clinical guidance
• Knowledge and understanding of wider issues facing the NHS
• Understanding of national strategies and policies relating to nutrition, health and social care as relevant to the post.

Skills

Essential

• Proven time management skills
• Ability to remain flexible when organising and prioritising own clinical and non-clinical caseload
• High level of written and verbal communication including report writing skills
• Advanced skills in the assessment and treatment of patients in relevant clinical area
• Ability to present and teach information to junior and assistant staff and students as part of an inservice programme
• Ability to maintain accurate, comprehensive, and up to date documentation, in line with legal and Trust standards.
• Ability to appropriately apply a range of treatment approaches
• Ability to problem-solve and to demonstrate clinical reasoning based on experience and knowledge.

Desirable

• Ability to work with and understand complex data sets to support evaluation and service development

Personal and people development

Essential

• Experience of managing and developing junior and assistant staff

Desirable

• Experience of using HR policy and procedure including sickness absences and performance management
• Knowledge of change management principles

Communication

Essential

• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to influence others
• Competent in the use of IT including proficiency with emails
• Ability to deliver sensitive information in a tactful and empathetic manner

Specific requirements

Essential

• Able to perform the duties of the post with reasonable aids and adaptations
• Car driver with valid licence and access to car for travelling across Milton Keynes to visit patients or to other bases.
• Willing to work from home some of the time / at various sites across MK.

Desirable

• Willing to work flexible hours on occasion.

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).