Overview
The successful applicant will be part of a small friendly innovative team who support Care homes and their residents in Hillingdon. We are a multidisciplinary team, including GPs and Matrons, with borough wide support from a Care Home Pharmacist, Care of the Elderly Consultant and Speech And Language Therapist.
Post holder will be required to deliver specialised nutrition and dietetic advice to complex patients in care homes those at high risk of developing malnutrition. Post holder will be required to work independently and manage a significant clinical caseload in the care homes and contribute to policy development on matters relating to nutrition and dietetics.
Responsibilities
* Complete full nutritional assessments, set goals, and deliver evidence-based interventions.
* Advise MDTs on dietetic management, including interpreting biochemistry and adjusting nutrition plans.
* Lead ONS-related work: auditing prescriptions, monitoring patients, ensuring cost-effective use.
* Train staff on food diaries, food-first approaches, enriched menus, hydration, constipation prevention, and food-based activities.
* Accept referrals for wider dietetic needs (e.g., diabetes, wound healing, IBS, deficiencies).
* Support end-of-life nutrition.
* To be completed as stated in the original: Professional & Governance with responsibilities including ensuring legal, ethical, and professional standards in all practice, keeping accurate records, communicating with GPs and MDT colleagues, and contributing to in-service training, student supervision, and appraisal processes.
Professional & Governance
* Ensure legal, ethical, and professional standards in all practice.
* Keep accurate records and communicate appropriately with GPs, nurses, and MDT colleagues.
* Contribute to in-service training, student supervision, and appraisal processes.
Organisational
* Manage and prioritise own caseload independently.
* Maintain electronic diaries, collect data, and support service reporting.
* Work collaboratively with health, social care, and voluntary services.
Communication & Training
* Deliver behaviour-change support to residents and staff.
* Provide formal and informal training to care-home staff, nurses, students, and community groups.
* Educate homes on MUST screening and nutrition-support pathways.
Develop resources and contribute to strategic projects.
We’re passionate about delivering first-class patient-centred, safe and effective care, whether it is in a hospital setting, in a community clinic or in the patient’s own home. Patients are at the heart of everything we do.
Providing top-quality care depends on our ability to employ the best people. We’re always looking to recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and the Trust. With every new employee we’re hoping to find our future leaders and we’ll support our staff by providing opportunities to develop your career.
Core responsibilities and professional accountability
1. To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of own working including management of patients.
2. To undertake nutritional assessment and identify treatment goals of referred patients, taking into account medical, social and cultural factors.
3. To provide nutrition support clinical leadership in providing a service to more complex clinical cases in care homes.
4. To provide nutrition and dietary advice suitable for the patient’s medical, social and cultural factors which is evidence-based.
5. To take lead in providing expert dietetic advice to the multidisciplinary team (MDT) in MDT meetings. To liaise with all members of the team to advise on treatment and dietary management for patients with nutrition support needs, and their families and carers.
6. To make recommendations to the medical and care home teams regarding adaptation of medication regimes and nutritional supplementary feeds for the management of nutritional support patients based on interpretation of biochemical parameters and clinical signs.
7. To be responsible for the provision of an effective rehabilitation dietetic service for residents across Hillingdon care homes incorporating clinical and teaching work:
o Audit all homes for ONS prescriptions not initiated by a CNWL dietitian for clinical suitability, continuation, most cost-effective product, etc.
o Monitor patients on ONS.
o Train care home staff on use of fluid and food diaries in order to facilitate accurate assessment.
o Train kitchen staff and food first principles, enriching foods, menus and homemade milkshake recipes.
o Train activity coordinators on food based activities to promote good nutrition and hydration in care home residents.
o Train care home staff on proactive prevention of constipation and promote reduction in automatic laxative use.
o Accept referrals for other dietetic care needs e.g., wound healing, diabetes, weight reducing, gluten free, IBS, vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
o Support end of life care with regards to eating and drinking.
8. To ensure a high standard of clinical and professional practice.
Professional/Clinical Governance
1. To assess the ability of individual patients to provide informed consent to treatment, working within a legal framework with those patients who lack the capacity to consent.
2. To undertake and document risk assessments as a regular part of the rehabilitation process, guiding the goal-setting process with the patients.
3. To maintain a high standard of clinical expertise by undertaking CPD activities throughout the year and maintaining a portfolio.
4. To keep up to date with clinical developments in dietetics and implement changes in clinical practice to the service, based on evidence-based research and best practice information.
5. To participate in planning and delivery of in-service training programmes to peers/junior staff.
6. To participate in CNWL appraisal process.
7. To participate in Hillingdon Community Health’s clinical governance programme, including departmental audit work, service development, clinical risk identification, and incident investigation.
8. To undertake measurement and evaluation of own work and current practice through audits and outcome measures to meet KPIs.
9. To represent the service at multidisciplinary meetings so that care is coordinated and rehabilitation issues are integrated into case management.
10. To accurately record all assessments and interventions in dietetic records and nursing documentation (nursing homes) in line with Trust Policy and British Dietetic Association guidelines. To communicate in writing/electronically with other agencies as appropriate, complying with data protection laws.
11. To support new initiatives in accordance with national guidelines and maintain contacts with professional bodies and quality governance protocols.
12. To participate in the individual development and performance review system.
13. To be fully compliant with all trust mandatory trainings.
14. To undertake management duties as required, ensuring coordination and smooth delivery of the community service.
15. To contribute to service meetings; review and present journal articles and prepare CPD sessions for the department, participating in service developments.
16. To work as part of the MDT involved in strategic projects.
Organisational
1. To ensure accurate and evaluative records of patient care are maintained in accordance with service standards.
2. To maintain up to date electronic diary and outcomes of all appointments as required by the service.
3. To participate in data collection and audit activity as required by the service.
4. To be aware of Health and Safety at work and follow trust policies, including reporting accidents and ensuring safety of equipment.
5. To plan, organise and prioritise patients’ caseload to meet patient need.
6. To organise appointments and maintain own diary.
7. To attend regular meetings within the service.
8. To work autonomously in assessment and treatment of patients within the community, evaluating treatment and managing time effectively by caseload prioritisation.
9. To maintain effective links with medical colleagues, other allied health professionals, social services and voluntary services to maximise patient care.
Communication & Training
1. To communicate highly complex nutritional counselling to patients with differing nutritional needs, employing motivational skills to overcome barriers to change.
2. To utilise communication and teaching skills to educate a diverse population of staff with barriers to understanding.
3. To deliver formal and informal training to health care professionals, including pre- and post-registration training for nurses, planning and delivering teaching sessions, and contributing to study days on nutrition and dietetics.
4. To contribute to training of pre-registration dietetic students including supervision and tutorials.
5. To aid supervision of junior staff and support their professional development.
6. To participate in new staff and student induction programmes.
7. To act as a resource for specialist dietary information related to nutrition support and health promotion for community groups.
8. To attend regional Dietitians groups and be active in resource development and forward planning for the service.
9. To perform other duties related to the department as appropriate to the grade.
We’re passionate about delivering first-class patient-centred, safe and effective care in hospital settings, community clinics or patients’ homes. We aim to recruit outstanding people who will contribute to our future leaders and will support career development.
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