Band 6 Stroke Dietitian, Worcester WR5 1DD

Job summary

Job summary

SpecialistBand 6 stroke dietitian 22.5 hours per week, flexible working considered, fixedterm 12 months to cover maternity leave.

Doyou have a interest in working as a stroke dietitian? Would you like todevelop your skills in oral and enteral nutrition support and MDT working? Do you want to join asupportive dietetic team?

Anexciting opportunity has arisen for a specialist dietitian to join our teambased at Worcester Hospital.

Weare a forward thinking and proactive Dietetic department of 22 dietitiansworking within specialty teams.

Wecan offer you,

Afriendly and supportive team of colleagues, excellent peer support, and regularclinical supervision.

TheDepartment is approved for student placements A, B and C. All staff activelyparticipate in student training.

Weare committed to your personal development, well- being, and CPD.

Asa department we have regular specialty and team meetings with a focus onquality improvement and maintaining CPD.

Main duties of the job

Main duties

Thepost holder is a key member of the stroke MDT, working closely alongsidethe wider stroke MDT.

Experienceworking in stroke and enteral feeds is desirable.Enthusiasm and commitment are essential.

About us

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is a largeacute and specialised hospital trust that provides a range of local acuteservices to the residents of Worcestershire and more specialised services to alarger population in Herefordshire and beyond.

The Trust operates hospital-based services fromthree sites in Kidderminster, Redditch and Worcester

Our workforce is more than 7,000 strong, and ourcaring staff are recognised as providing good and outstanding patient-centredcare. You could be one of them.

We are committed to recruiting the best people towork with us. Our values, which we ask all staff to demonstrate, underpin oureveryday work and remain firmly at the heart of all we do.

Being open and honest

Ensuring people feel cared for

Showing respect to everyone

We are committed to developing a culture of continuous improvement by embedding the principles of our Improvement System.

We are proud to have achieved Timewiseaccreditation - this means we are committed to embedding flexible workingwithin our organisation as a flex positive employer.

DBS Checks and Costs

Any applicants who are offered posts requiring aDBS check as part of their employment check will have the cost of this check(at the current rate) deducted from their salary. Please see link in SupportingInformation section for more details on DBS checks and costs.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose:

To work with the MDT and Specialist Nurses to enhance effective nutrition support on the Acute Stroke Unit (ASU).

To assist with audit to improve nutrition support for in-patients

To offer training to nursing and medical staff on nutrition related topics.

Job Summary:

Working as an experienced autonomous practitioner, to provide a high standard of patient focused care through specialised assessment.

To plan and deliver a high quality service to patients working in conjunction with the multi-disciplinary team.

To offer dietetic skills and expertise to complex in-patients

To contribute to the Therapy Clinical Governance agenda to further improve the quality of the service.

Dimensions:

To provide dietetic intervention to patients referred to the Department. To work closely with the dietitians and administrative staff to ensure that service delivery is effective and timely.
Key Relationships:
Internal:Dietitians and administrative staff in Acute Trust, Medical and Nursing staff, Specialist Nurses, Catering staff, Pharmacists, AHPs.

External:Patients, patients relatives and carers, Company representatives, Homeward staff, GPs, CCG staff, dietitians in other Trusts, Social services.
Risk Assessment:
The post involves lone working when patients are seen, for privacy reasons.

Key Responsibilities:

Clinical

To be professionally and legally accountable for allaspects of practice, including the management of patients receiving treatment.

Tofunction as an autonomous practitioner, working within codes of practice andprofessional guidelines when providing expert advice to patients on therapeuticdiets.

Touse clinical judgement and analyse the patient's personal circumstances beforeformulating a dietary care plan.

Toaccept clinical responsibility for a complex caseload of patients and organisethis effectively.

Toensure the delivery of a high standard of clinical care and support juniorstaff to do likewise.

Toprioritise and manage caseload referrals receivedfrom Consultants and other healthcare professionals.

Toprovide specialist advice individually tailored to the needs of the patients ona wide range of medical and surgical conditions.

Toinvolve patients in decision making for their treatment on wards and in outpatientclinics; to inform referrer in writing of dietetic intervention.

Toformulate and update diet sheets on specific topics for use by Dietitians andother healthcare professionals countywide and to ensure information is evidencebased.

Todevelop and implement nutrition and dietetic guidelines in clinical areas basedon current best practice.

To implementand support appropriate action following Nutritional screening includingtraining nursing staff and contributing to Nutrition Link Nurse training.

Toclinically supervise staff and students in placement.

Tocoordinate a safe and effective discharge/transfer of patients back to theirhome organising for equipment and feed to be delivered for those who need tocontinue on an enteral feed after discharge .

Toattend Departmental meetings and participate in on-going development of theservice.

Toprovide and promote a quality nutrition and dietetic service within availableresources.

Toensure patient confidentiality is maintained at all times.

Professionspecific clinical duties

To advise patients with complex conditions requiring frequentdietetic reviews.

To work with MDT and specialist nurses to enhance effectivenutrition support on ASU.

To assist with audit toimprove nutrition support for in-patients.

To support Band 5 dietitians with learning clinical skills .

To deliver training to nursing and medical staff on nutritionrelated topics.

Communications

To engagewith patients in treatment planning decisions and to formulate a treatment planjointly with the patient providing written information where appropriate.

Toadvise and motivate patients, relatives, and carers tomake positive lifestyle and dietary changes.

Tocommunicate effectively with the multidisciplinary team, patients carers andrelatives regarding the dietetic component of patient care, to ensure aseamless service.

Tomaintain accurate documentation on-going patient care, including phone contactsin accordance with professional standards.

Tocommunicate with healthcare professionals in implementing Trustwide nutritionrelated policies.

Toliaise closely with dietitians and health care professionals in other hospitalswhenever there is a transfer of patient's care or shared care.

Towork with healthcare professionals to help improve dietetic care and patientexperience.

Touse computer skills to produce and retrieve clinical information, tocommunicate to colleagues and for presentations.

Educationand Training

Tomaintain own clinical professional development by a variety of means e.g. attendingpostgraduate training courses, journal reviews in order to maintain up to dateclinical knowledge.

To delivertraining sessions across sites to educate and update health care professionalsin the Trust on nutrition related topics.

Toparticipate in Trust staff appraisal scheme as both appraiser and appraisal.

Tobe appraised annually and agree objectives for the year and a personaldevelopment plan. This should take intoaccount personal objectives with regards to education and development and Trustobjectives including management and service issues.

To attendstudy days linked to clinical supervisory skills and student training.

Tobe responsible for teaching dietetic students to graduate level on dieteticskills and knowledge within core clinical areas.

Todeliver tutorials on clinical topics to students and colleagues.

Tocontribute to multidisciplinary training programmes linked to nutrition in theTrust and occasionally to external organisations.

To improve quality of dietetic services throughinnovative ideas.

To participate in the induction andintegration of new staff and students.

To continually reflect on own practice and participatein peer review.

Organisationand Management

Toprioritise workload and manage own patient caseload.

Toassist in managing the service within the resource allocation, reviewing andmodifying work practices to maximise effectiveness.