Clinical Lead Cancer Dietitian in Huddersfield

Candidates must have previous NHS Dietetic experience, either as an undergraduate or postgraduate. The post holder will play a central role in expanding our innovative prehabilitation service through the Active Together Programme, a unique collaboration with Yorkshire Cancer Research, local universities, and councils. This initiative empowers individuals to enhance their health and wellbeing through personalised support before, during, and after cancer treatment. As a Clinical Lead Dietitian, the post holder will ensure the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based, client-centred principles to assess, plan, implement and evaluate dietetic interventions, while also contributing to the development of services across the Trust and within the community. The post holder will mentor and support colleagues, guiding the education and supervision of clinical staff, and working alongside fitness professionals in community settings. The post holder will deliver services across a range of locations, including Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust sites, council and leisure facilities, university campuses, and other community venues, ensuring care is accessible, consistent, and centred around the needs of those we support.

Main duties of the job:

• Lead the delivery of cancer prehabilitation and rehabilitation dietetic services across hospital and community settings.
• Provide advanced nutritional assessments and tailored dietetic interventions for individuals before, during, and after cancer treatment, including those on artificial nutrition support.
• Act as the clinical lead for dietetics within the Active Together Programme, ensuring high standards of care and evidence-based practice across multiple tumour sites.
• Supervise and mentor dietitians, support workers, and fitness professionals, fostering professional development and clinical excellence.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), universities, councils, and community partners to deliver integrated, patient-centred care.
• Organise and deliver group education and rehabilitation workshops.
• Participate in service development, audits, research, and data collection to support programme evaluation and continuous improvement.
• Support operational management, including staff appraisals, rota planning, recruitment, and deputising for the Prehabilitation Service Lead.
• Ensure safe and effective use of enteral feeding equipment and compliance with governance, risk management, and data protection policies.
• Represent the Trust and the Active Together Programme at local, regional, and national levels, promoting best practice and innovation in cancer care.

CHFT is an integrated Trust of 6,500+ colleagues providing hospital and community services to patients and communities across Calderdale and Kirklees. We are rated as ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission, are a top performing Trust for Elective Recovery, Emergency and Cancer Care and widely acknowledged as a national digital lead when it comes to caring for people across our local and regional systems.

Our people are at the core of everything we do, hence our commitment to One Culture of Care. Our focus is to care for and support each other in order to provide outstanding compassionate care to our patients. That is why we are looking for an inclusive collaborative, creative, innovative and compassionate leader to join us in this role.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities:

• To act as Clinical Lead Dietitian within the Cancer prehabilitation and rehabilitation service at both sites and within the community.
• Lead the development and integration of best practice within the clinical setting, supporting effective interventions in cancer prehabilitation and rehabilitation across multiple tumour sites, in line with the latest evidence base.
• Deliver specialised treatments informed by the most current clinical evidence, maintaining up-to-date knowledge through engagement with relevant literature, research tools, and collaboration with practitioners both within and outside the service.
• Provide expert dietetic advice including nutritional assessment and development of treatment plans.
• Directly advise on nutritional supplements and enteral feeds for patients.
• Ensure a consistently high standard of patient care by implementing, monitoring, and reviewing clinical standards relevant to the cancer prehabilitation and rehabilitation service.
• Independently prioritise and manage a highly specialist caseload in cancer prehabilitation and rehabilitation.
• Provide highly complex sensitive nutritional counselling to patients and carers using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques.
• Delegate tasks appropriately to colleagues, including support staff and fitness professionals.
• Provide clinical and operational supervision and guidance to colleagues.
• To plan, organise and deliver group activities, co-ordinated with other members of the MDT.
• To take part in the education and training of therapists, support workers, qualified and nonqualified healthcare / social services / education staff including medical staff.
• To work collaboratively with health and social care community and acute colleagues.
• To participate in the supervision process with staff daily and for students as required.
• To provide highly specialist assessment and advice to the multidisciplinary team (MDT).
• To organise and participate in in-service training programmes.
• To be responsible for the supervision and education of dietetic students to graduate level.

Operational Delivery:

• To ensure effective day to day running of the team including support staff.
• Actively participate in research and clinical audit activities related to cancer prehabilitation and rehabilitation.
• Present findings from research, audits, and patient surveys to internal teams and external stakeholders.
• Lead on completing appraisals for the team.
• To work flexible across a variety of settings, including out of hours working.
• To provide advice / information to the Prehabilitation Service lead to help in the planning and development of the service.
• To assist the Prehabilitation Service lead in achieving the service objectives.

Risk, Governance & Safety:

• Work autonomously within Trust policies and professional practice.
• Identify and assess potential risks within the department or community settings during service delivery.
• To work with the Prehabilitation Service Lead Team Leader, assisting them in the management of complaints and incidents.
• Maintain confidentiality of all patient identifiable information in line with Trust policies.

Personal:

• Engage in appropriate development opportunities as identified through the Trust’s Personal Development Review process.
• Maintain an up-to-date CPD portfolio including evidence of experiential learning.
• Ensure maintenance of Professional Registration.

Qualifications & Training:

• Degree or Post-graduate Diploma in Nutrition and Dietetics and registered with the HCPC.
• Practice Clinical Supervisory Skills training.

Essential Criteria:

• Significant NHS post-registration experience in providing dietetic treatment in Cancer/Cancer rehabilitation.
• Specialist level of knowledge of cancer treatments and the potential side effects experienced by individuals living with and beyond cancer.
• Knowledge of the principles of clinical governance, audit, and research.
• Excellent time and organisational management skills.

Desirable criteria:

• Trained in blurred boundary working.

Exceptional and proven ability to communicate verbally and in writing in a clear, concise, and effective manner.