Inpatient Mental Health Dietitian

Gloucestershire Health and Care; Gloucester; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 46,000; Part time

Job summary

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust invites applications for an Inpatient Mental Health Dietitian in a permanent, part-time role of 30 hours per week, with a developmental path from Band 5 to Band 6.

You will provide specialist nutrition support to service users with mental health needs and learning disabilities, plan and deliver dietetic treatment, and work within a MDT. You will receive supervision from a Senior Dietitian and operate under professional guidelines.

Qualifications

• Applicants must have post-registration experience.
• Role develops from Band 5 to Band 6 with support from a Highly Specialist Dietitian and the MDT.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist nutrition input and training within mental health and learning disabilities services.
• Provide dietetic assessments and interventions for individuals or groups.
• Deliver and evaluate patient-centred programmes of care within competence.
• Work in line with professional standards and governance.

Skills

Dietetic intervention

Mental health experience

Clinical assessment

Education & training

Autonomy

Education

HCPC registered Dietitian

Post-registration experience

Job description

We love what we do and we think you will, too!

At Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (GHC), we provide joined-up mental health, physical health and learning disability services to people of all ages across Gloucestershire. We run community hospitals and provide care and support in people's own homes and in a range of other locations across the county .

We are on a mission to enable people to live the best life they can and we have a vision to work together to provide outstanding care . We put people at the heart of our services, focusing on personalised care by asking 'what matters to you'.

We're passionate about making sure that everyone can contribute to achieving our mission and w e are continually working to support healthy and happy high-quality team s in all areas of the Trust .

Our application process aims to understand each candidates knowledge, skills and experience. We have found that candidates that use AI to generate their answers can lack specificity and fail to address key criteria outlined in the job description.

It is really important to personalise your application to convey your individual skills, knowledge, and experiences effectively and for us to understand why you are applying for this role with GHC. We discourage over reliance on AI-generated applications as it will lessen your chances of success in securing an interview with us .

Job overview

This role is offered on a permanent basis. The hours are part-time, 30 hours per week.

Applicants must have post registration experience

We have an exciting opportunity to expand our Inpatient Mental Health Dietitian Team. This development post will see the successful applicant develop from Band 5 to Band 6. You will be supported in this development phase using competencies and with support and guidance from our Highly Specialist Dietitian and the Multi-Disciplinary Team.

The post holder will:

• Provide specialist Dietetic intervention to service users with severe / complex mental health needs and / or learning disabilities. (80% of time)
• Provide evidence based, dietetic assessment and intervention to optimise service users' outcomes and recovery.
• To be responsible for a designated workload with access to the support, advice and management from a senior clinician whilst not directly supervised.
• They will assess, plan, deliver and evaluate patient centred programmes of care ensuring that they practice within their sphere of competence and knowledge.
• The post holder will work to professional protocols and regulatory body codes, standards and guidance at all times ensuring that their practice is grounded in the best available evidence based theoretical and practical knowledge.

Main duties of the job

• To provide specialist nutrition advice/input and training throughout mental health and learning disabilities (LD) services within the Trust
• To provide a Trust wide Nutrition and Dietetic Service for mental health and LD and work as an autonomous practitioner and with supervision from the lead Dietitian.
• To work with catering services to ensure the Trust's catering provisions are fit for purpose and meet national guidelines for hospital food standards
• To provide dietetic assessments and interventions to individuals or groups of clients with mental illness or learning disabilities
• To provide clinical supervision and support to Dietetic Students
• To carry out delegated tasks in policy and service development reviews

Working for our organisation

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

• 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
• 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
• 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate to our staff survey and Pulse y ours. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many factors. To that end we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top‑quartile performance with no placeholders etc.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical:

• Use analytical and judgmental skills to plan safe, effective and appropriate individualised dietetic treatment based on a sound knowledge of evidence-based practice and treatment options
• To plan and deliver nutrition education and training of other health professionals, catering colleagues, and associated patient groups on a regular basis.
• To undertake individual dietary assessments as required, and produce specialist 1-1 treatment plans for dietetic patients
• Provide and receive complex, sensitive or contentious information where motivational, persuasive, empathetic, negotiating and reassurance skills are required whilst demonstrating an understanding of barriers to communication.
• To deliver a quality assured service in line with the departments agreed Standards of Care and evidence-based practice
• To assess and document all patient information as per Trust health records policy, BDA code of conduct and HCPC standards of practice

Professional:

• Responsible for collecting and inputting the appropriate clinical information for activity monitoring
• To participate in clinical governance and audit
• To work in accordance with agreed objectives and uphold professional standards
• To liaise with other colleagues of all disciplines to ensure good communication and effective service delivery
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