BANK Specialist Clinical Community Dietitian

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Main Duties and Responsibilities:

•    To plan, deliver and evaluate the specialist dietetic services provided by the Adult Clinical Community Team.
•    Delivery of services includes assessment, treatment and ongoing management of community patients including community-based inpatient units, mental health units, care homes, clinics and domiciliary visiting including home enterally fed patients.
•    To undertake comprehensive assessments of patients, including biochemistry, anthropometrics, clinical condition, diet history and social circumstances. 
•    To use advanced clinical reasoning skills to interpret data and implement appropriate patient centred nutritional aims and plans including timely onward referrals as appropriate.
•    To utilise prioritisation skills and plan the day-to-day provision of dietetic services within your own caseload.
•    To be responsible for the provision and development of dietetic services in your specialist areas across the Trust, and to be responsible for service change in those specialist areas in response to service requirements.
•    To ensure your own nutrition and dietetic knowledge is up-to-date and evidence-based including the current developments for nutrition in community dietetics and within your specialist area. 
•    To give expert opinion on complex nutrition related issues where a number of social, ethical, psychological and medical factors have to be considered and where there may be conflicting ideas within the multidisciplinary team.
•    To act as an autonomous practitioner to provide expert nutritional advice. This may involve seeking advice from peers within and outside the Trust.
•    To be professionally and legally accountable and responsible for all aspects of your own work, including the management of patients in your care.
•    To evaluate and review your own work and that of the service, seeking the views of others and adopting the principles of evidence based practice to ensure maintenance and development of clinical and professional standards.
•    To develop robust and evidence based policies and procedures to support service delivery.
•    To provide educational activities, training and teaching for Dietitians, Dietetic Assistant Practitioners, Medical and Nursing staff and Allied Health Professionals.
•    To write and update patient and professional literature.
•    To carry out audit work within the department and your specialist areas.
•    To work closely all teams within the department and in particular the Food First Team to support service development and delivery.
•    To work independently and undertake lone working in the community.
•    To provide training and supervision for student Dietitians, providing constructive feedback to support development.
•    Undertaking any other Band 6 duties identified by the team as required for successful service delivery.

Communication 

•    To possess and utilise appropriate communication and counselling skills to enable highly complex dietary information to be delivered in an understandable form to patients and other healthcare professionals. This can include those with potentially life-threatening conditions where adherence is essential and using both verbal and written information.
•    To possess and utilise developed motivational and behaviour change techniques to support patient compliance. This requires excellent communication skills including education, motivation, negotiation and empathy and where there are significant communication difficulties and barriers to acceptance and change. This may include the use of interpreters.
•    To advise and liaise with catering staff, ward staff, clinic staff, carers and families concerning the complex dietary needs of patients.
•    To actively and effectively contribute toward rounds, case conferences and multidisciplinary meetings in order to provide expert dietetic advice to clinicians, patients and carers, and to negotiate an appropriate treatment pathway. 
•    To develop and deliver effective nutrition education at a level appropriate to the audience. 
•    To attend and actively participate in department and team meetings.

Budgetary Responsibility 

The post holder does not hold budgetary responsibility but will be aware of the planning of non-pay expenditure for the Community Dietetic Team

People Management

•    To supervise Student Dietitians and volunteers.
•    To line manage Dietetic Assistants and junior staff with the support of the community team lead.
•    To contribute to the setting of targets and annual team objectives, and to the monitoring of these objectives,
•    Maintaining own professional development and requirement to take part in appraisal and KSF process.

Clinical and Practice Governance

•    Observe and maintain strict confidentiality with regards to any patient/family/staff/records and information in line with the requirements of the Data Protection Act.
•    Any data that is taken/shared as part of a phone call or transported, faxed, or transferred electronically must be undertaken with regard to the Trust Information Governance and Information Security policies.   
•    The post holder must adhere to the Trust risk assessment and risk management processes
•    The post holder must adhere to infection control policies and procedures.
•    It is a condition of your employment that you are currently registered with your professional body, and it is your responsibility to maintain your professional registration.
•    Undertake mandatory training and any other training relevant to the role as required by Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust. 
•    The post holder must participate in clinical and safeguarding audits as required.
•    Participate in Clinical & Safeguarding supervision on a regular basis.
•    The post holder is required to participate in relevant emergency preparedness process for their team.

General

Safeguarding people responsibility
Safeguarding children and adults at risk of abuse or neglect is a collective responsibility.
•    There is an expectation that all staff develop and maintain their role relevant safeguarding people competencies and comply with local safeguarding partnerships practice. Alongside this employee who are registrants are reminded of their professional duty of care.
•    Safeguarding means protecting a citizen’s health, wellbeing and human rights; enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. It is an integral part of providing high-quality health care.
•    Those most in need of protection include:
•    Children and young people
•    Adults at risk, such as those receiving care in their own home, people with physical, sensory, and mental impairments, and those with learning disabilities.

The post holder must at all times carry out his/her duties with regard to Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust Equal Opportunities Policy.

To be aware of the responsibilities of all employees to maintain a safe and healthy environment for patients, visitors and staff.

All post holders must adhere to the code of conduct on confidentiality and be aware of and adhere to all Trust policies and procedures.

This job description is intended only as a guide to the range of duties involved. The post holder will need to be flexible and adaptable in order to respond to other duties that may be required from time to time and the changes and developments within the Trust. 

The post holder must at all times carry out their duties with regard to Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Policy.

To be aware of the responsibilities of all employees to maintain a safe and healthy environment for patients, visitors, and staff.

All post holders must adhere to the code of conduct on confidentiality and be aware of and adhere to all Trust policies and procedures.

This job description is intended only as a guide to the range of duties involved. The post holder will need to be flexible and adaptable in order to respond to other duties that may be required from time to time and the changes and developments within the Trust. 

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exemptions) Order 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure of Barring Service to be made to check for any previous criminal convictions. Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust is committed to the fair treatment of its staff, potential staff, or users in line with its equal opportunities policy and policy statement on the recruitment of ex-offenders.

Sustainability 
It is the responsibility of all staff to minimise the Trust’s environmental impact wherever possible. This will include recycling, switching off lights, computers, monitors, and equipment when not in use. Helping to reduce paper waste by minimising printing/copying and reducing water usage, reporting faults and heating/cooling concerns promptly and minimising travel. Where the role includes the ordering and use of supplies or equipment the post holder will consider the environmental impact of purchases.