Specialist Paediatric HEF Dietitian

To deliver specialist dietetic clinical care to paediatric patients requiring home enteral tube feeding within Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust and the community it serves whilst working to the Dietitians' Professional Code of Conduct.

o To be professionally responsible and accountable for the management of own clinical caseload and to organise this effectively with regards to clinical priority and effective use of time in a variety of settings.

o To work autonomously to provide highly complex advice to paediatric patients with highly complex medical and surgical conditions that are reliant on artificial nutrition support in the community. This will involve nutritional assessment (based on interpretation of biochemistry, anthropometry, clinical condition and dietary history) and development of nutritional care plans which are both realistic, practical and evidence based (based on assessment of medical, social, economic, cultural and psychological factors).

o To manage and be responsible for an individual caseload of paediatric patients with a wide range of medical, neurological, physical, social and emotional needs, including life limiting and degenerative conditions in an outpatient setting.

o To assess and interpret the medical diagnoses and changes in medical conditions and treatment plans of individual patients requiring artificial nutrition support and understand how it affects nutritional management.

o To respond to urgent complex problems with enteral feeding tubes e.g accidental removal or blockages. Where possible to arrange emergency replacement of balloon retained gastrostomy devices or emergency assistance to clear blocked enteral feeding tubes in order to prevent hospital admissions.

o To provide training to patients and carers alongside nutrition nurses on the correct procedures of care for their enteral feeding tube.

o To maintain knowledge and awareness of guidelines for correct administration of medicines via enteral feeding tubes and where appropriate to liaise with the medicines management pharmacist for patient medication review.

o To attend relevant multidisciplinary meetings in order to provide expert advice to clinicians regarding provision of appropriate nutrition support interventions based on clinical evidence.

o To communicate effectively with patients and carers to maximise condition management, recovery potential, further disease prevention and during terminal care.

For further details please see the attached JD & PS.

We are a people business - where every member of staff matters and can make a difference. Patients are at the heart of everything we do. Joining University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust means becoming part of a team of dedicated staff, who are committed to leading the way through innovation, clinical excellence and great customer care. The Trust has great opportunities for career development in a highly progressive working environment. We offer all of this in a vibrant, modern city with a historic reputation for adventure.

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If you have any issues with applying online and need additional support including reasonable adjustments with the application process, please contact the recruitment team on 01752 432100.

We recognise that work life balance is important for our colleagues and so we invite requests from applicants around less than full time/flexible working for our advertised roles. Please contact the recruiting manager to discuss this prior to your application submission. We commit to giving this full consideration in each case. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds to apply for our roles, as diversity strengthens our teams.

It is sometimes necessary to close vacancies before the closing date. If you have not heard from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been shortlisted.

Other Factors

Essential: - Ability to travel between sites

Qualifications

Essential: - oBSc in Human Nutrition & Dietetics or equivalent qualification; - oHPC Registered; - oCompletion of Clinical Supervisory Skills training course

Desirable: - oCompletion of validated post registration training e.g. PENG course, paediatric course

Knowledge & Experience

Desirable: - oExtended Role competencies in enteral tube care.

Aptitude & Abilities

Desirable: - oAbility to lift feeding equipment / deliver feeding supplies to patients