Paediatric Home Enteral Feeding Dietitian

Are you looking for a new challenge, excited by innovative ways of working, and passionate about supporting children and their families? We are seeking a motivated and skilled Paediatric Home Enteral Feeding (HEF) Dietitian to join our friendly and dynamic paediatric dietetic team in Barnet. In this specialist role, you will lead the community HEF service, providing patient-centred, therapy-led nutritional support to children with home enteral feeding needs. You will work closely with families, clinicians, and community partners to ensure safe, effective, and compassionate care. This role also includes responsibility for managing the enteral feeding supplies budget and provision, ensuring equitable access to resources and maintaining high-quality service standards. Experience in service development, data analysis, audit, and report writing will be highly valued, as will confidence in project management and communicating across services. Some travel to neighbouring boroughs may be required. We welcome applications from candidates who value inclusive practice, effective teamwork, and delivering meaningful outcomes for children and young people.

Main duties of the job

• Leading the Paediatric Home Enteral Feeding (HEF) service, acting as the clinical expert for enteral nutrition within the Barnet Children's Community team.
• Provide specialist, patient- and family-centred dietetic care to children receiving home enteral feeding.
• Manage the HEF supplies budget, working with suppliers and ensuring timely, appropriate provision of equipment and feeds.
• Champion high-quality, evidence-based practice and contribute to service development and quality improvement initiatives.
• Support commissioning and evaluation work through data collection, audit, outcome reporting, and preparation of service reports.
• Work collaboratively with families, carers, and the multidisciplinary team to ensure coordinated, holistic care.
• Offer guidance, leadership, and clinical support to colleagues within the dietetic team.
• Maintain accurate records and adhere to professional and Trust standards of documentation.
• Represent the service at relevant meetings, case discussions, and community forums.
• Maintain strong links with neighbouring boroughs and partner services to ensure continuity and shared learning.

About us

Just as we care about our patients' well-being, we care about yours! We can offer you:

• A comprehensive induction into the community service followed by a local induction to introduce you to the role.
• Car lease scheme (only available for Band 5 and up).
• Flexible working options.
• Training, support and development in your career.

Job responsibilities

• To provide assessment regarding effective nutrition and hydration intake in children who have a feeding tube in situ.
• To support and advise parents/carers in maintaining effective nutritional and/or fluid intake for children who have a feeding tube in situ.
• To advise on the use of supplements and specialist feeds as required, liaising with the child's GP regarding prescription of these, for children who have a feeding tube in situ.
• To manage the enteral feeding home delivery service for enteral feeds, plastics and ancillaries.
• To work closely with the budget holder to manage enteral feeding service finances to ensure the cost-effective use of home enteral tube feeds and equipment, in line with Trust quality and efficiency objectives.
• Liaise with manufacturers of nutritional products regarding supplements and specialist feeds used by the service.
• To develop enteral feeding regimens for non-orally fed children in collaboration with parents and other professionals.
• To provide training, education and development in relevant areas for parents and professionals as appropriate.
• To make appropriate and timely referrals to other professionals and liaise with other agencies as necessary to support effective planning for children.
• To work jointly with other professionals within the paediatric HEFT team including senior speech and language therapist and administrator.
• To work jointly with other professionals e.g. Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapists, Dietitians, Paediatricians, Educational and support staff, Social Workers.
• Where possible to take part in the multidisciplinary meetings held at the Child Development Centre with the Community Paediatrician.
• To develop tailored best practice standards and protocols in the management of malnutrition and service delivery.
• To support the Clinical Lead in the planning, delivery and review of the strategic objectives of the Paediatric Dietetic service.

Please refer to the attached Job Description for full list of responsibilities.

When submitting your application, you must clearly demonstrate that you are HCPC registered as a Dietitian and hold a relevant Dietetics degree. Applications that do not evidence these essential requirements will not be progressed.

Person Specification

Education/Qualification

• Valid Health and Care Professions Council Registration.
• Post graduate experience in Paediatric Home Enteral Feeding.
• Membership of the British Dietetic Association.
• Member of Specialist Interest Group related to Paediatrics.
• Supervisory skills training.
• Post-registration training in Behaviour Change.

Experience

• Post-registration and previous experience in a range of paediatric clinical areas including home enteral feeding, faltering growth, food allergy, gastroenterology.
• Experience in training/teaching healthcare professionals.
• Experience in the training of student Dietitians.
• Experience in conducting audits and/or research.
• Experience in using behaviour change techniques.
• Experience in contributing to policy, procedures, guidelines and clinical standards development.
• Experience working within community dietetics.
• Experience in supervising others.
• Experience of recommending the use of oral nutritional supplements in line with NICE guidelines and ACBS criteria.
• Knowledge of current policy and political drivers impacting on public health and the NHS.

Skills & Knowledge

• Ability to take leadership role in speciality of Paediatric Home Enteral feeding.
• Advanced skills in the assessment and treatment of paediatric patients with nutrition related disease.
• Advanced knowledge of up to date dietetic practice, including paediatric dietetic guidelines, evidence base and recommendations.
• Ability to work autonomously.
• Ability to work as a team member and promote collaborative multi-disciplinary and multi-agency working.
• Ability to problem solve, prioritise and demonstrate clinical reasoning in verbal and written format.
• Highly developed presentation skills and ability to present to professionals at all levels.
• Ability to manage time effectively, meet deadlines and deal with work pressures and demands.
• Ability to work with paediatric patients from a diverse range of backgrounds 0-19 years.
• Knowledge of national policies and guidelines in the area of paediatric dietetics, including home enteral feeding, food allergy, paediatric appropriate prescribing.

Key Attributes

• Hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).
• This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.