Specialist Community Learning Disabilities Dietitian
Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Job overview
We invite you to apply to this novel and rewarding 2-year fixed term opportunity to provide dietetic leadership into the newly established weight management service for people with learning disabilities in Bedford Borough. This prevention service is designed to complement other clinical pathways within the Specialist Learning Disabilities Service in Bedfordshire in partnership with Bedford Borough Council.Your role will be up to 3-days per week, supervising a junior post-holder and working alongside multi-professional colleagues to promote access for this under-served group. If you would like to discuss the opportunity before applying, please be in touch with Hannah Style.
or Simone Mingay.
Main duties of the job
The post-holder will lead the embedment of the ELFT Shape Up programme, a weight management service for people with learning disabilities in Bedfordshire, and will be the driving force behind its workstreams and service development. The Shape Up programme comprises service-user intervention and training in practical nutrition for carers and staff, and has been co-developed with service users and re-run in ELFT specialist learning disabilities services in other boroughs after demonstrable positive impact.This will involve working with the specialist learning disabilities service, care providers, primary care and community services to promote and deliver the programme effectively, and identify opportunities for improvement.
The post-holder will be both autonomous and team-spirited, proactive and organised, and approachable. The post-holder will work effectively with multidisciplinary professionals across sites, and will seek opportunities to support the weight management service to develop locally.This role is an exciting opportunity to address dietary health inequalities at a borough-wide level within the Trust, and expand current practices surrounding nutrition in the trust for the benefit of the disadvantaged people we serve.
Working for our organisation
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To provide dietetic input for adults diagnosed with a learning disability within Bedford and Central Bedfordshire.- Manage a specialist caseload of overweight and obese clients who are at risk of metabolic complications, offering tailored dietetic advice in group and individual settings to patients, and their families/carers
- To support healthy eating promotion and education to people with learning disabilities, and their carers, in collaboration with multidisciplinary team members and local services
- Attend and contribute to multidisciplinary meetings for dietetic referrals and joint care planning for client’s requiring dietetic intervention including those on psychotropic medication, those with behaviours that challenge or those at risk of constipation and complications.
- Identify patients at risk of malnutrition, and provide appropriate advice on oral nutritional support, working closely with Speech and Language Therapists and specialist nurses.
- Lead on the development and implementation of easy-read nutritional resources and diet sheets for adults with learning disabilities, and advise local teams tailor-made resources and reasonable adjustments
- Ensure acute dietary assessments (interpretation of anthropometry, biochemistry, clinical condition and diet history), expert advice based on evidence-based practice, and implement patient-centred treatment plans (involving calculation of nutritional requirements)
- To facilitate access to mainstream Dietetics services in conjunction with the wider MDT, who provide support for people with learning disabilities around enteral feeding,
- To support pathways for clients who present with disordered eating in conjunction with the wider MDT linking with mainstream services
- To support individuals who present with behaviours of concern relating to eating conjunction with the wider MDT, this may include behaviours around food avoidance.
- Ensure effective communication with healthcare professionals, outside of the learning disability service. This will include GPs, Acute Services and other Dietetic Services.
- Ensure that accurate and comprehensive electronic dietetic records of assessment, treatment, progress and discharge summaries are maintained in accordance with legal and trust standards
- Provide support and advice to people with learning disabilities and carers on the dietetic and nutritional requirements of people with learning disabilities involving the interpretation and communication of complex and sensitive information in an accessible form
- Provide training and advice to other members of the learning disability service in relation to the dietetic and nutritional requirements of people with learning disabilities, with a particular focus on weight management
- Provide training and workshops for staff and carers at homes and day services regarding dietary modification and menu-planning to support healthy eating training, nutrition support for clients with dysphagia
- To monitor effectiveness of dietary interventions through goal setting, audit, outcome measurements and evaluation.
- Review, update and develop dietary information and education materials for patients and carers in order to ensure dietary advice is evidence-based, patient-centred, accessible and meets cultural needs
- Manage the dietetic aspect of the service, prioritisng referrals.
- To contribute to Continuing Health Care assessments related to a persons’ nutritional status and needs
- To have a thorough understanding of the current legislation relating to people with learning disabilities and their health needs.
- To work in a range of community settings, including people with learning disabilities’ homes, and day services, supported living, residential and nursing placements.
- To contribute to shaping local health services (e.g. development of local protocols and policies), promoting an inclusive service for people with learning
Person specification
Meets all essential criteria
Essential criteria- UK registered with Health Professional Council
- Member of the British Dietetic Association
- Broad dietetic experience across a range of clinical areas
- Undergraduate or a post graduate degree in Nutrition & Dietetics
- Post graduate professional practice in Dietetics
- Experience working in the community
- Post registration training or experience in psychological approaches to patient care i.e. CBT
Essential
Essential criteria- UK registered with Health Professional Council
- Member of the British Dietetic Association
- Post graduate professional practice in Dietetics
- Experience of working within the community setting
- Experience in the provision oral nutrition support
Essential
Essential criteria- Broad dietetic experience across a range of clinical areas
- Experience in mental health and/ or learning disability dietetics - understanding of individual needs, communication needs, co morbidities
- Has a professional presentation and is able to express themselves clearly and simply (both verbally and written)
- Can plan and deliver training/education to Health Care Professional, non-medical carers and LD patient groups
- Experience of working within the community setting
- Has an ability to use own initiative and to be self-motivated
Making Things Better
Quality Improvement is a key part of our work to improve our services and refine how we do things. We have a global reputation for our quality improvement work and we don’t stand still! So we offer a fantastic opportunity for our staff to learn, lead and contribute towards improving our services.
We launched our Five Year Strategy in April 2018, which identified four main strategic outcomes to improve: population health outcomes, experience of care, staff experience and improve value. This complements the NHS Long Term Strategy and sets out our direction of travel.
Our Community
We provide a wide range of community health and mental health inpatient services to children, young people, adults of working age, and older adults in The City of London, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Bedfordshire and Luton. We also provide psychological therapy services to the London Borough of Richmond, and provide Forensic services to the whole of North East London.We provide services in urban and rural settings, sometimes in our inpatient units, but mostly in the community close to where people live. Integrated care is key in making the best use of resources and providing effective care.
Aiming High
We were rated ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC in 2016, were proud to be rated ‘Outstanding’ again in 2018 and continue to be rate 'Outstanding' in 2021.. We were named in the HSJ’s Top 10 best places to work in healthcare and were voted Provider Trust of the Year in 2018.
Staff and Service Users United
We strive to ensure that staff feel valued by the Trust and as they are truly pivotal in delivering better outcomes for our patients and service users. Our aspiration is to help to make ELFT the best place to work. This Trust is clinician-led and provides the highest possible level of clinical expertise throughout its services.We pride ourselves on our service user involvement. A service user will be on your assessment centre and interview panel if you are invited to meet us.
We especially welcome people with lived experience of health difficulties, with insight and understanding of different backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles in our population as we believe that this will equip staff to deliver a high standard of care to our service users and patients.
Diversity
ELFT Is committed to being a diverse organisation and our workforce is reflective of the population and communities we serve. We believe that having colleagues with a range of backgrounds and life experiences enriches and adds value to the outcomes we have set out to achieve.Having partnered and endorsed by organisations who are representative and experts in various areas of equality and diversity, we can ensure we are meeting the pre-set standards all the way from recruitment stage throughout the career journey of our employees by being accessible, having fair inclusive practices and a host of staff networks to support, nurture and celebrate our valued staff in the workplace.
Other reasons to apply
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s job share, part time or another flexible pattern.
As part of the relocation scheme we presently have, the Trust could support you with offering up to £10,000 for removal and associated expenses. This is subject to change and terms and conditions apply.
What Next?
If you like the sound of ELFT, don’t waste a moment. We sometimes close adverts early if there is a high response, so apply now!
As part of our recruitment process we may be required to share information you provide on the application form with NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and/or other organisations for the purpose of the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud or any other unlawful activity affecting the NHS.We also use third party providers to check and verify your qualifications who may be contacting you on our behalf to verify the same..
If you do not hear from us within four weeks of the closing date, please consider that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion. You must provide professional email addresses for all referees as we will contact them as soon as an offer has been made.Please note we do not request references prior to interviews. All applications made through NHS Jobs account will be processed by TRAC System. Please note that some emails may go to your spam/junk mailbox so make sure you check this regularly.
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