Clinical Specialist Dietitian for Critical Care

Guys & St Thomas Hospital; London; On-site; GBP 61,000 - 69,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in London is seeking a Clinical Specialist Dietitian for Critical Care. This role involves managing dietetic services in Intensive Care units while providing expert clinical support and leading a multidisciplinary team. The ideal candidate will have significant experience, advanced clinical skills, and a commitment to excellent patient care.

Benefits

10 days of study leave a year

Access to funding for study leave and research

Excellent opportunities in research and quality improvement

A comprehensive health and well-being service.

Qualifications

• HCPC registration required.
• Significant broad clinical experience in critical care.
• Experience in leading research or audit.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate dietetic service for ICU across hospitals.
• Provide highly specialist advice to clinical staff and manage complex patients.
• Lead development and planning of dietetic critical care service.

Skills

Advanced clinical reasoning skills

Highly developed interpersonal skills

Education

4 year degree in nutrition and dietetics or equivalent

Extensive post graduate training to Masters level or equivalent

Job description

Clinical Specialist Dietitian for Critical Care

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Main area Dietitian Grade NHS AfC: Band 8a Contract Fixed term: 3 years (covering secondment for research fellowship) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Cross site role between Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals) Job ref 196-LIS9615

Employer Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Royal Brompton Hospital Town London Salary £61,927 - £68,676 p.a. inc HCA Salary period Yearly Closing 23/06/2025 23:59 Interview date 07/07/2025

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

A fabulous opportunity to work as the clinical lead for dietetics within Critical Care at The Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals.

The postholder would be expected to independently co-ordinate and take responsibility for delivering a highly specialised dietetic service to all adult patients admitted to the Intensive Care unit (ICU) across Brompton and Harefield sites.The role will include the use of specialised equipment such as indirect calirometry.

The post holder would be expected to support other team members in delivering care to respiratory patients across the Royal Brompton and Harefield including the HDU’s, cardio-respiratory wards and private patients. The postholder will work closely with other Allied Health Professionals as part of a multidisciplinary Therapy Team, and will need excellent communication and leadership skills.

As part of Guys and St Thomas Trust, we care about our staff. We offer:

• 10 days of study leave a year
• Access to funding for study leave and research
• excellent opportunities in research and quality improvement
• a comprehensive health and well-being service.

If you are looking for a new challenge in a friendly multidisciplinary rehab team with complex Critical Care patients please do apply.

Main duties of the job

• Use advanced clinical reasoning skills to provide highly specialist support and advice to dietetic and other clinical staff within and outside the organisation whilst maintaining a caseload of highly complex patients as an autonomous practitioner.
• To use expert knowledge and extensive clinical experience to lead on the development and strategic planning of the dietetic critical care service across Brompton and Harefield utilising the principles of clinical governance.
• Identifies audit and service evaluation priorities within area of expertise to drive clinical development strategy.
• To be responsible for planning and delivering specialist training to medical staff, nurses, students and other health care professionals within the field of critical care.

Working for our organisation

Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ in February 2021 and is the largest specialist heart and lung centre in the UK and among the largest in Europe. We provide treatment for people with heart and lung disease, including rare and complex conditions, offering some of the most sophisticated treatment that is available anywhere in the world.

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.

We strive to recruit and retain the best staff as the dedication and skills of our employees lie at the heart of our organisation and ensure that our services are of the highest quality, safe and focused on our patients.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Communication

• To use highly advanced communication skills to negotiate dietetic interventions and communicate complex and sensitive information to patients, carers and staff
• To work closely and communicate effectively with MDT including-medical and nursing teams, therapy teams, catering teams, nutrition lead and senior management
• To demonstrate a high level of written and verbal communication to communicate complex and sensitive information
• To be able to motivate others and use advanced communication skills to persuade, negotiate and influence others when required
• To keep accurate and complete written records of all in-patient and out-patient consultations in accordance with Trust and departmental standards for record keeping
• To effectively articulate the specialist dietetic perspective on a patient’s condition with medical colleagues and members of the multidisciplinary team and negotiate when various patient management options are available.
• To clearly convey complex knowledge of techniques, biomechanics, anatomy and physiology to patients and staff, where evidence underpinning practice may be conflicting and ensuring sensitivity to the audience’s level of understanding and prior knowledge.

Patient/customer care (both direct and indirect)

• To have accountability for the highly specialist independent clinical management of patients in intensive care requiring dietetic intervention.
• To demonstrate an advanced level of clinical decision making to assess, make a dietetic diagnosis, develop, implement, and evaluate highly complex and specialised treatment programmes.
• As a member of the critical care and nutrition multidisciplinary teams (MDT) to influence decision making regarding treatment planning and consequences for rehabilitation of patient’s dietetic needs.
• As a core member of the critical care and nutrition MDT to participate in critical care team meetings/working parties and audit groups. To propose and assist in implementation of policy and service development in those groups.
• To take responsibility for planning service developments in critical care dietetics within the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals and Network wide.
• To represent the dietetic service at relevant critical care meetings, internally and externally to the hospitals.
• To interpret and analyse clinical and non-clinical facts, which may be conflicting, to regularly provide specialist advice and second opinion to peers, medical colleagues and other health professionals. This includes the formulation of accurate prognoses, recommendation of best course of intervention, and development of comprehensive discharge plans.
• To have a specialist knowledge of and experience in the management of patients with respiratory and cardiac disease and ventilatory support, including ECMO.
• To work with other teams e.g. surgical teams to ensure the appropriate dietetic management of critically ill patients throughout the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals.
• To provide specialist opinion which informs the development of clinical pathways in collaboration with other multidisciplinary team leads
• To manage clinical risk within own caseload at all times and ensure clinical risk is effectively managed for the specialist area across the organisation.
• To facilitate patient involvement in decision making at all stages of their nutritional management, ensuring that they have consented to dietetic intervention in line with Trust and departmental ethico-legal policies and the BDA Code of Professional Conduct.
• To be competent in the use of anthropometrical equipment for the assessment of nutrition status
• To lead in the provision of expert nutritional advice to patients, carers and clinicians using evidence-based practice or, in the absence of a robust evidence base, advanced clinical judgment acquired through professional expertise
• To translate highly complex scientific, medical, biochemical and nutritional information into simple and easily understood practical information and advice for patients and their carers.
• To advise medical staff on patient need and suitability with regard to the type of feeding tube and method of placement, or suitability for non-enteral feeding when indicated.
• To discuss feeding options with patients and their carers, including any practical implications and support available.
• To maintain knowledge and skills as an expert in critical care nutrition through attendance and presentation at national conferences (or internationally if appropriate)
• To maintain an expert level of clinical knowledge in clinical area by use of relevant reading, attendance at in-service training, external courses and database searches
• To maintain a CPD portfolio reflecting personal professional development, in conjunction with the management team.

Policy and Service development

• To be aware of and comply with the departments and Trusts Risk Management Strategy and ensure any incidents/complaints are managed, reviewed and reported according to Trust policy.
• To review relevant nutrition related incidents and develop strategies to continually improve safety and care
• To contribute to and develop innovations in areas of risk management, quality standards setting and clinical effectiveness as part of clinical governance.
• To contribute to the critical care service’s systems of Clinical Governance as a specialist resource.
• To provide specialist clinical opinion, as required, in the development of clinical policy and service development within the dietetic department and multi-professional team
• To work with the management team to ensure that the service responds locally to national initiatives (e.g. NICE, NHS England).
• To work closely with the Trust nutrition lead and support with developing any relevant policies or tenders as required

Resource Management

§ To propose the use of novel equipment, which will develop practice to the therapy lead and management team, and to contribute to the appraisal and evaluation of any new equipment use in the clinical setting.

• To have oversight of feed stock in the hospital to ensure that supply matches demand and to limit waste

Management/professionalism

• To be responsible for providing clinical leadership of junior members of the Harefield and Brompton dietetics team, including supervision and performance appraisal of direct reports.
• To potentially provide professional dietetic leadership to the dietetic team-professional leadership may also be provided/represented by another member of the adult dietetics team
• Contribution to and attendance at regular professional and business meetings, in-service training and special interest groups in order to facilitate continuing professional development.
• To offer peer support to colleagues at Royal Brompton and Harefield sites and mentor junior staff as appropriate.
• To be an active member of the dietetic team, attending and participating in departmental service development projects, staff and team meetings and professional development meetings.
• To ensure safe practice through documentation and reporting of critical incidents as outlined in the Trust policy
• To comply with the BDA and HCPC Code of Professional Conduct, BDA professional standards, Trust and departmental policies
• To be responsible for maintaining a professional portfolio in line with departmental and national guidelines
• To assistmanagement team in the recruitment of staff as a clinical expert panel member.
• To provide regular training/lectures on critical care nutrition to postgraduate doctors, nurses and AHPs specialising in critical care across the Trust.
• To participate in the departments training programmes for student dietitians

Research and development

• To use specialist knowledge of current evidence to drive the clinical audit and research programme in area of expertise and identify sources of funding for research where necessary.
• To assist the highly specialist dietitians in identifying areas of research need and developing clinical guidance within critical care services which may have impact on clinical practice.
• To disseminate the results of research/audit/expert practice at local, district and national level.
• To contribute to the research environment within the department and offer support and guidance to research teams, MSc projects and external agencies.
• To co-ordinate and supervise research projects for undergraduate and postgraduate dietetic students.
• To identify appropriate outcome measures and service impact measures which accurately evaluate patient response and service development needs.
• To maintain accurate statistical information on specialist area using databases as necessary to inform management team and drive audit programme.

Person specification

Knowledge/Qualifications

• HCPC registration
• 4 year degree in nutrition and dietetics or equivelant
• Extensive post graduate training to Masters level or equivalent, to include specialist critical care training

Experience

• Competent in independently developing Parenteral Nutrition (PN) regimens
• Significant broad clinical experience to include time working at an expert level in critical care
• Lecturing/teaching experience to all health professionals, including senior medical staff
• Experience of leading research or audit
• Published papers in recognised medical journal

Skills

• Advanced clinical reasoning skills and ability to make complex clinical judgements
• Highly developed interpersonal skills

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 account the individual’s personalcircumstances as well the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.

Your e-mail address is important to us -We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.

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Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Name Terpsichori Karpasiti Job title B8a Clinical Lead Dietician for Critical Care Email address [e-mail]

Our dedicated and talented staff make it their mission to provide outstanding care for our patients.

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