Highly Specialist Cardio-Respiratory Dietitian in London

Employer Guy\’s and St Thomas\’ NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Royal Brompton Hospital Town London Salary £56,276 – £63,176 per annum inc. H.C.A Salary period Yearly Closing 21/01/ :59
Highly Specialist Cardio-Respiratory Dietitian
NHS AfC: Band 7
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
This role is the perfect opportunity to develop cardio-respiratory dietetic knowledge and skills in a well-renowned specialist centre. The post holder will be expected to cover critical care, including ECMO patients, cardiothoracic surgery and private patients.
The dietetics team is a small and friendly team, sitting within a larger multi-professional AHP team.
With 10 days of study leave a year and well established research links we actively encourage learning, further education, research opportunities and QI.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will provide care to adult cardio-respiratory patients in conjunction with another Band 7 Dietician as part of the Adult Heart Therapy Team. This post is primarily for providing a specialist dietetic service to private in- and out-patients, but also includes providing a specialist dietetic service to NHS in and out-patients and adults on critical care, attending relevant clinical meetings and participating in service developments. The post is based primarily at the Royal Brompton Hospital.
The post holder will have opportunities to lecture internally and externally and participate fully in relevant national meetings both verbally and through presentations of posters and abstracts. The post holder will also have an active role in student training.
The post holder will be responsible for their own continuous professional development.
Working for our organisation
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust comprises five of the UK’s best known hospitals – Guy’s, St Thomas’, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield
We have a long tradition of clinical and scientific achievement and – as part of King’s Health Partners – we are one of England’s eight academic health sciences centres, bringing together world-class clinical services, teaching and research. We have one of the National Institute for Health Research’s biomedical research centres, established with King’s College London in 2007, as well as dedicated clinical research facilities.
Our integrated approach to caring for patients from before birth, through childhood, adolescence and into adulthood and old age has been replicated around the world and has gained Royal Brompton and Harefield an international reputation as a leader in heart and lung diagnosis, treatment and research.
We have around 22,700 staff, making us one of the largest NHS Trusts in the country and one of the biggest employers locally. We aim to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve and continue to develop new and existing partnerships with local people, patients, neighbouring NHS organisations, local authorities and charitable bodies and GPs.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Patient/customer care (both direct and indirect)
To provide a highly specialist dietetic clinical service to designated private patient adult wards and outpatients referred to the service, in accordance with Trust Policy and Standards.
To provide a highly specialist dietetic clinical service to adults on critical care with acute respiratory failure and post-cardiothoracic surgery.
Work autonomously to provide specialist expert advice and treatment plans to adult patients, their carers and clinicians. This will involve nutritional diagnosis (interpretation of biochemistry, anthropometrics, clinical condition and dietary intake information) the development of treatment plans (frequently including complexities surrounding calculation of nutritional requirements, development of patient centred goals and considering medical, physical, social and psychological needs.) The prescription of dietary treatments and ACBS products for conditions where there may be limited clinical guidelines. This work often involves complex cases where many factors such as the use of non-invasive ventilation, presence of a secondary diagnosis (diabetes, liver disease, osteoporosis and other gastrointestinal disorders), ECMO and critical care stay which requires expert knowledge and experience.
To expand and establish the Private and NHS dietetics outpatients service by the development of an innovative online outpatient follow up nutrition service for overseas inpatients that are repatriated with a gastric feeding tube or in need of further nutritional support.
To be involved with the development and implementation of Dietetic and Trust policy and protocols related to adult respiratory and critical care services.
To be familiar with and implement where appropriate Trust, Directorate Policy and Standards and involved in their regular review writing policy where appropriate at department and Trust level.
To undertake specific research and audit projects as related to clinical specialism.
To participate in other research and audit projects as appropriate.
To work in conjunction with the Therapy Lead, Clinical Specialist and Nutrition Lead to help to develop dietetic services.
To participate in Trust-wide multidisciplinary policy groups acting on behalf of the Rehabilitation and Therapies Directorate.
To participate in national dietetic interest groups developing standards and guidance in the dietetic care of adult respiratory patients.
To work with the Therapy Lead, Clinical Specialist and Nutrition Lead to develop the service to outpatients.
To receive regular appraisals and have an individual developmental plan, to help achieve personal and team objectives.
To carry out the annual appraisal and clinical supervision of Band 6 team members, and ensure that they have an annual Personal Development Plan and a record of CPD activity.
To be involved with recruitment and in issues of work performance within the team.
To supervise and teach student dietitians, both those undertaking their clinical placement and those involved in projects as part of their Honours degree, working with student training lead to devise training programmes.
To abide by the Trust’s core behaviours for staff and all other Trust policies including standing financial instructions, research governance, clinical governance, patient and public involvement, codes and practices, and health and safety policies.
Communication
To work as part of a multidisciplinary team to ensure the best service for patients.
To give informal and formal talks to staff, patients and students when requested within hospital, locally and nationally when requested.
Lecture internally and externally and participate at national or international meetings both verbally and through the presentation of posters and abstracts. The post-holder should ensure feedback to department and service team meetings.
Regularly communicate with patients who may be terminally ill, have chronic disease (heart failure) or have barriers to understanding (eg CVA, poor cognition, long stay ITU patients).
To gain consent about a range of dietetic treatment options and to agree and inform of expected outcomes.
Communicate with outside agencies e.g. GP’s about patient care where appropriate.
Resource management
Responsible for the safe use of dietetic or nutrition related equipment by patients under their care (e.g. feeding pumps).
Responsible for safe storage and appropriate usage of any consumables used in specified research studies.
Work in conjunction with the Lead Dietitians and Director of Rehabilitation and Therapies in developing a strategic direction for the department in line with Trust strategic aims and objectives through Directorate business planning.
Information management
To be familiar with and able to operate all necessary computer programmes eg Microsoft office, dietary analysis packages and dietetic specific software.
To record own dietetic activity, accessing patient information though IT systems.
Responsible for maintaining accurate treatment notes for each patient as per Health and Care Profession Council standards.
Professional
To be responsible for maintaining records demonstrating engagement in Continuing Professional Development (CPD), according to any guidelines laid down by the British Dietetic Association.
To demonstrate annually current State Registration by the Health and Care Professions Council and abide by their Standards of Proficiency and their Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics.
To keep up to date by attending relevant study day’s, conferences, BDA Branch meetings and Special Interest Group meetings and reading relevant books and journals.
To be professionally and legally accountable for all aspects of their work.
Person specification
education and qualifications
A strong commitment to personal and professional development with evidence
Relevant validated clinical courses accredited as equivalent to masters level
Member of the British Dietetic Association
experience and knowledge
Knowledge & experience of working with patients with cardiothoracic conditions
Demonstrable knowledge and experience of dietetics in the critical care setting
Experience of carrying out both own and collaborative audit projects
Experience of training dietetic students including counselling, mentoring and assessing to a final standard
Research experience
Experience of teaching and lecturing at national, international and HEI level
Skills and abilities
Ability to work within a team, under pressure and as an autonomous practitioner
Guy’s and St Thomas’celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to