Detailed job description and main responsibilities

MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND LEADERSHIP

 Support the Service lead and Head of dietetics in the delivery of an efficient, cost effective and high quality Nutrition and Dietetic service, demonstrating and awareness of financial constraints of budgets for supplements / prescriptions in the in and outpatient setting.

• To demonstrate excellent organisational skills and responsible for maintenance of patient records to comply with departmental and trust standards.
• To manage and prioritise own caseload and workload independently.
• To supervise and support the role of the junior dietitians, dietetic assistants and students as appropriate within the departmental structure.
• To be flexible to the demands of the environment including unpredictable work patterns, deadlines and frequent interruptions.
• To attend relevant training and development in order to maintain and develop skills and knowledge required of a highly specialist therapist working in the service area of dietetics and maintain up to date HCPC registration.
• Report to the Head of Profession and to contribute to the effective running of the dietetic service and the Nutrition and Dietetic department.
• Working with other Dietitians within the dietetic team to further develop the dietetic services. Contribute and participate in departmental CPD and learning activities e.g. journal clubs and case presentations.
• To jointly develop dietetic/nutrition policies and guidelines for the dietary treatment of patients in the borough of Greenwich in conjunction with the dietitians and Head of Profession.

CLINICAL

• To be an expert source of nutritional advice for patients/carers, nursing and other health professionals and advising on appropriate prescribing of oral nutritional supplements.
• To perform anthropometric measurements including; weight, height and calculating BMI and interpreting and recording this information in the dietary assessment and care plans.
• To develop individual patient centred care plans based on nutritional diagnosis including interpretation of biochemistry, anthropometry, clinical condition, growth parameters, medication, diet history, family and social history. 
• To modify nutritional supplement prescriptions based on the nutritional status of the patient and informing the GP, community medical- and nursing teams of the relevant changes.
• To advise on the safe prescribing of vitamin and mineral preparations for the caseload.
• To educate and support patients and their carers, through planning and organisation, regarding their dietary management.
• To assist in the development of evidence based nutritional education materials in collaboration with other dietitians, which will take into consideration barriers to communication e.g. translating complex nutritional guidelines into simple messages for the general public; addressing particular barriers such as social, cultural, religious, language and economic factors.
• Using highly specialist knowledge and communication skills to contribute to the development and evaluation of complex care pathways / protocols within the multi-disciplinary team.
• To maintain and develop links with the tertiary and secondary care to ensure continuity of care for patients.
• To advise medical, nursing, dietetic colleagues and other professionals on the evidence based principles of nutrition and dietary management of nutritionally related conditions.
• To have a working knowledge of relevant procedures including: Safeguarding Children, Working with Vulnerable Adults and other legal frameworks.
• To attend specialist short courses, network meetings and advanced training within Dietetics and related to service areas.

RESEARCH

• Participate in departmental and trust wide audit projects eg. Patient satisfaction survey and service delivery.
• To be prepared to initiate and take a lead role in research/ audit and development activities within field of dietetics with the Head of Profession, and to assist in the evaluation of current practice.
• To provide feedback to the Head of Profession and participate in departmental innovations with regard to development of risk management, quality standards and clinical effectiveness as appropriate.
• To comply with Trust and national guidelines in all audit and research activities, insuring appropriate procedures and assurances are in place.
• To present findings of audit and development activities to the team in order to contribute to service and professional development.  Where appropriate to present information to other therapy teams or outside agencies.

• To provide support and encouragement to other staff undertaking research or development activities.
• Continually evaluates own work and current practices through the application of the available evidence base.

COMMUNICATION

• Be skilled in a range of verbal and non-verbal communication tools, including the use of interpreters. To communicate effectively with patients and carers/guardians to ensure quality and safe dietary treatment is agreed.
• To provide nutrition counselling skills and to communicate with all service user within a diverse multicultural population where there might be barriers to communication.
• To adapt complex information from different situations and people using negotiating and motivational techniques where there may be barriers to understanding and compliance.
• To always maintain sensitivity to the emotional needs of the client, carer and colleague when managing distressing situations such as safeguarding issues and exposure to terminal illness.
• To write timely accurate reports and letters, reflecting highly specialist knowledge, to all members of the team including liaising with the GP’s regarding the on-going treatment and prescribing of nutritional supplements.

• To assist in the development of evidence-based nutritional education materials in collaboration with other dietitians. To take into account barriers to communication e.g. translating nutritional advice and messages for the general public. Ensuring that particularly attention is given to ensure social, cultural, religious, language and economic factors are accounted for.
• Develop and provide nutrition education and training to professionals and community groups within Greenwich and provide effective health promotion/community development activities.
• To have highly developed computer skills for data entry and computer literacy e.g. Word processing, presentation packages incl. PowerPoint and spread sheets e.g. Excel.