Lead Childrens Dietitian

First Community Health and Care; Crawley; On-site; GBP 52,000 - 68,000; Full time

Job summary

First Community Health and Care invites an experienced paediatric dietitian to jointly lead the paediatric team. You will oversee complex child nutritional cases, develop clinics, and support students within a friendly, innovative community service spanning east Surrey and parts of West Sussex.

Based in Crawley, you will work collaboratively with paediatricians, nurses, and education partners to deliver high-quality dietetic care in clinics, schools and home settings, while supervising Band 6

Qualifications

• Minimum 4 years post graduate clinical experience with paediatric dietetics at a senior level.
• Postgraduate training in paediatric dietetics.
• Understanding the importance of effective multi-disciplinary working.
• Experience in training / teaching other health professionals.
• Experience in giving guidance and advice to families and carers of children with complex special needs.
• Experience of supervising Dietetic students and supporting child protection cases.

Responsibilities

• The post holder is responsible for the nutrition and dietetic management of community paediatric clients under the care of the First Community Dietitian services.
• Provide a specialist dietetic service to a caseload of children with complex needs including enteral feeding.
• Use specialist dietetic skills to assess, plan, implement treatment and advise carers in clinics, schools or at home.
• Work autonomously while liaising with other professionals and agencies involved with the child and family.

Skills

Autonomy

Teamwork

Communication

Liaison

Negotiation

Influencing

Education

HCPC registration

Postgraduate dietetic study

BDA paediatric group member

Job description

Doyou want the exciting opportunity to jointly lead the paediatric team in FirstDietitians? First Community Health and Care are looking for an enthusiastic anddynamic person to lead the childrens team of dietitians (3 x Band 6 dietitiansand dietetic assistant support)

Joinour friendly team of 19 dietitians, dietetic assistants and administratorsdelivering adult and childrens services across east Surrey and parts of WestSussex. The post holder will need tohave excellent communication skills and clinical skills covering nutritionsupport, tube feeding and more complex special needs. This role will also linemanage others in the paediatric team and support students.

Youwill support the team to continue to deliver excellent patient care based onthe needs of the local community. The post holder will be supported by theservice lead to jointly formulate the operational delivery plans and strategicdirection of the service in line with First Communitys objectives. This is a greatopportunity to jointly lead and develop the childrens dietetic service with afriendly, supportive and innovative team of dietitians.

AI: You may choose to use AI during your application forstructuring your answers, but it should not replace your real experience,skills or voice. Our recruitment process is designed to get to know youand we will explore your examples further at interview, so itsimportant your application genuinely represents what you bring.

Main duties of the job

Youwill manage a caseload of complex HEF patients, providing specialistnutritional assessment, support, and ongoing monitoring in the communitysetting. You will have regular general clinics and clinics in special schools.

Youwill work as a part of a friendly, patient focused multiagency team (includingcommunity paediatricians, acute paediatricians, community nurses, SLT, schoolnurses, health visitors etc) and have regular liaison with tertiary centres,special schools and social care.

Youwill have children under safeguarding plans and be a part of the core groupsand multiagency support networks managing these cases.

Werun different parent education groups for conditions such as complexfeeding/ARFID and cows milk protein allergy that you will be involved indelivering.

Youwill line manage a Band 6 paediatric dietitian and/or Dietetic Assistant offeringsupervision and guidance as needed.

Thedietetic team undertakes regular student placements from different universities,and they all spend some time in the paediatric team.

Reviewingand developing the service to meet the needs of the local population and in linewith the service objectives.

Skilled Worker Sponsorship is not available for allvacancies. Decisions regarding this will be based on capacity, allocationsavailable, funding arrangements & immigration requirements. If sponsorshipcannot be provided for a vacancy, applicants who require sponsorship toundertake the role may not be shortlisted.

About us

First Community is a staff-owned social enterprise, ratedGood by the CQC, providing NHS community services across east Surrey and partsof West Sussex. We are looking for people who share our values: First-ratecare, First-rate people, First-rate value.

Recognised as one of the country's leading communityhealthcare employers in the 2025 NHS Staff Survey, First Community offers asupportive workplace where everyone has a voice and opportunities to developtheir full potential.

We offer: NHS terms and conditions, excellent training anddevelopment, flexible working, NHS pension, flexible retirement options, and a range of employee benefits.

If you need flexibility, please talk to us when you apply orat interview. We will consider all requests carefully and accommodate themwhere possible, depending on the role.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds,including Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates, andcandidates with disabilities. We are committed to fair recruitment, includingthe consideration of reasonable adjustments.

Sustainability is central to our work as we support the NHSNet Zero ambition.

To stay safe online, only use our website to find and applyfor jobs, and only trust recruitment communications from our published contactdetails. Any job advert, recruitment communication or offer can be verifiedthrough the contact details on our website.

Job responsibilities

The post holder isresponsible for thenutrition and dietetic management of community paediatric clients under thecare of the First Community Health & Cares Dietitian services. The servicecovers Crawley, Horsham and east Surrey areas.

The post holder will provide a specialistdietetic service to a caseload of children including those with complex specialneeds and those receiving enteral tube feeding.The caseload may have varied, unpredictable and complex healthneeds.

The post holder will be required to use specialist dietetic skills and knowledge: assessing, planning,implementing treatment and delivering dietetic interventions to children and advise their carers in a variety of settings including clinics, special schools or at home.

This role is one of an expert practitioner whoworks autonomously, but also involves joint liaison with other professionalsinvolved with the child and their families both within the health sector andother agencies.

Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification document attached for full details.

Person Specification

Experience

• Minimum 4 years post graduate clinical experience with appropriate experience in paediatric dietetics at a senior level.
• Relevant post graduate training in paediatric dietetics.
• Understanding the importance of effective multi-disciplinary working.
• Experience in training / teaching other health professionals.
• Experience in giving guidance and advice to families and carers of children with complex special needs.
• Experience of supervising Dietetic students
• Experience of supporting child protection cases, and attending case conferences and core groups

Skills

• Ability to work effectively autonomously and as part of a team with excellent communication, liaison, negotiation and influencing skills
• Ability to assess and treat children and evaluate dietetic intervention across a range of clinical needs
• Ability to prioritise workload unsupervised
• IT competency
• Good organisational and time management skills
• Ability to deliver presentations and training as required
• Ability to remain calm under pressure and flexible to the needs of the service

Knowledge

• Knowledge of a variety of paediatric neurological / developmental conditions
• Demonstrates consolidated clinical dietetic knowledge and skills in the specified field of paediatric dietetics
• Demonstrates good knowledge of, and ability to apply, evidence base in relation to dietetic practice
• Show understanding of value of audit within clinical practice.
• Demonstrates good knowledge of all aspects of enteral feeding in children

Other Requirements

• Willingness to participate in continuous professional development
• Is motivated to take responsibility for own actions and promotes good team working practice appropriately
• Treats others with courtesy and respect at all times
• Access to a car/car owner/full UK drivers licence

Qualifications

• Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council
• To have commenced post graduate dietetic study
• Member of the BDA and the BDA paediatric group

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

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.