Paediatric Dietitian Band 6

Lewisham-and-Greenwich-Nhs-Trust; Royal Borough of Greenwich; Hybrid; GBP 38,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust in London is seeking a Band 6 Paediatric Dietitian to join the paediatric dietetic team at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich. You will work with the Band 7 paediatric Dietitian to deliver specialist paediatric dietetic services across two hospital sites, with a mix of inpatient and outpatient clinics.

The role offers flexible working arrangements, with opportunities to contribute to clinical education, service development, and patient-centred care across diverse

Qualifications

• BSc in Dietetics or equivalent is required.
• Current State Registration is required.
• Post graduate training in paediatrics / diabetes / nutrition support / cognitive behavioural therapy is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Work with Band 7 paediatric Dietitian to provide a specialist paediatric dietetic service at Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).
• Clinical responsibilities include the children’s inpatient ward and biweekly outpatient clinics (face to face and virtual).
• Coordinate and run monthly fussy eating virtual group sessions and oversee dietetic care from referral to discharge.

Education

BSc in Dietetics or equivalent

Current State Registration

Post graduate training in paediatrics / diabetes / nutrition support / cognitive behavioural therapy

Job description

Step into a place where exceptional care, patients, culture, and careers come together.

Explore our current vacancies and take your first step toward making a real difference.

Join us. Make a difference. Be part of Team LGT.

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.

Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.

We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.

Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.

LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.

We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICSc in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Job overview

Are you an enthusiastic motivated dietitian looking to extend your knowledge in a well-respected and friendly department? Then this opportunity may be for you!

We are looking for a dietitian who is keen to innovate and work together with our acute across site team. This Band 6 vacancy covers the paediatric wards at at Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Woolwich. You will join a friendly department comprised of 35 dietitians across the two sites of acute Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust.

We will consider a variety of flexible working arrangements.

The department has excellent secretarial and IT support.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work with our Band 7 paediatric Dietitian at QEH providing a specialist paediatric dietetic service at QEH .

Clinical responsibilities will include:-

• Children's inpatient ward
• Holding biweekly outpatient clinics both face to face and virtual group sessions
• Monthly fussy eating virtual group sessions

Working for our organisation

Lewisham and Greenwich are vibrant multicultural areas in South East London with excellent transport links.

Staff training and development is a high priority for the Trust, and you will be supported accordingly by the paediatric dietetic team to establish and develop you in your role.

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

• Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
• Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
• Improving the experience of staff with disability
• Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
• Making equalities mainstream

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Job Summary:

The post holder will work with our Band 7 paediatric Dietitian at QEH providing a specialist paediatric dietetic service at QEH .

Clinical responsibilities will include:-

• Children's inpatient ward
• Holding biweekly outpatient clinics both face to face and virtual group sessions
• Monthly fussy eating virtual group sessions

You will support the nutritional management children referred to the service by providing specialist advice, education and support to patients, careers and other professionals both within and outside the hospital. This post is accountable to the Head of Nutrition and Dietetics

Key Result Areas & Performance:

• To provide high quality, highly complex nutritional and dietetic advice as required.
• To work as an integral part of the paediatric multi-disciplinary team, liaising with all members to advise on treatment and dietary management for children and their families/carers on a regular basis.
• To be responsible for the safe discharge of children into the community including those that might require enteral feeding.
• To develop and be involved in the production of evidence based written materials and teaching resources as required and ensure their regular review. Ensure the availability of culturally appropriate information. Use patient forums to refine materials.
• To develop, implement and audit innovative methods of delivering education and behaviour change, including working in groups
• To ensure safe practice through development of caseload management plan taking into account risk management and documentation.
• To identify and report clinical risk issues as outlined in the trust policy and when required, research and prepare reports regarding clinical risk / clinical incidents.
• To be responsible for ensuring that patients and carers have consented prior to dietetic intervention in line with professional guidelines.
• To research, develop with the use of patient forums, audit and publish evidence based departmental literature for use within and outside of the trust.
• To take responsibility for ongoing clinical excellence through evidence based practice and development of standards, policies and guidelines in conjunction with the Trust standards committee.
• To keep accurate ‘real time’ records of dietetic contacts
• To act as a specialist resource for health professionals in both statutory and voluntary sectors

Workforce

• To participate in the operational and strategic planning for the nutrition service for children within the trust.
• To assist the department in general dietetics as dictated by the needs of the service and covering for other colleagues in their absence.
• To achieve, forge and maintain links with staff working in Primary Care in nutrition support
• To attend and actively participate in BDA and non-BDA specialist interest groups meetings contributing to the strategic direction of dietitians in these specialist areas.
• To be an active team member of the department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, participating in departmental developments and projects and attending monthly staff meetings, and continuing professional development sessions.
• To participate fully in Individual Performance Development and develop a strategy for Continuing Professional Development encompassing a portfolio based assessment, in line with national legislation.
• To be competent in use of information technology, formulation of databases for research and audit purposes and competent in the use of nutritional databases for determination of nutritional adequacy.
• To work as part of the Dietetic Team, participating in service developments and attending relevant staff meetings.
• To maintain strict confidentiality of patients records in accordance with the Trust GDPR guidance and HPC Code of Practice.
• To maintain state registration and professional liability insurance to cover all working practices.
• To have an understanding of the Trust’s Health & Safety, Confidentiality, Equal Opportunities and Data Protection policies and be aware of responsibilities.

Costs need to be taken into account when advocating the use of specialist nutritional products, both for inpatients and in recommendations for community prescribing.

Responsibility also involves looking after expensive feeding and anthropometric equipment, and informing managers as regards usage of costly nutritional products.

Partnerships

Main working relationships include:

• Medical Practitioners
• Catering Staff
• Pharmaceutical Staff
• Speech Therapists
• Physiotherapists
• Psychologists and Clinical Chemistry
• Community agencies (e.g. Home Enteral Nutrition Team, Home Care companies)

Communication involves:

• Working closely with the extended Paediatric Multidisciplinary Team both inpatient and outpatient discussing patient sensitive information
• Ability to utilise developed communication and teaching skills to educate the diverse and multicultural population with barriers to understanding the essential, highly complex artificial nutrition support and related procedures.
• Formal Presentations to colleagues and student training
• To be actively involved in the training of undergraduate and postgraduate multidisciplinary students, both within and outside of the trust. This includes active participation in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics’ training and assessment of student dietitians.
• Presentation of research and audit within the Trust and also at regional, national and international medical and dietetic meetings and conferences.
• To initiate, organise and implement training and education sessions trust-wide as appropriate, regarding new policies. To carry out training in person, or arrange external trainers.
• To produce teaching materials and patient literature for use within and outside of the Trust.

Qualifications & Training

• BSc in Dietetics or equivalent
• Current State Registration
• Post graduate training in paediatrics /diabetes / nutrition support / cognitive behavioural therapy

Experience

• Dietetic Experience – minimum 2 years as a Band 5
• Experience of training student dietitians
• Working as part of a team
• Paediatric Dietetic Oncology Experience
• Conducting Audits and or research

Knowledge & Skills

• Sound Clinical knowledge
• Evidence of CPD
• Sound knowledge of current issues of dietetics
• Good communication
• Organisational Skills
• Time Management
• Maintain confidentiality
• Prioritise own work load
• Able to work under own initiative
• Ability to liaise with professionals at all levels
• Computer Literacy
• Demonstrate understanding of equal opportunities

We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date, please apply early. We do not contact applicants with the outcome of the shortlisting. If you have been shortlisted, you will receive an invite to an assessment day or interview.

As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally and we welcome applications from the widest variety of people to ensure our workforce are reflective of the local communities which we serve. We encourage all suitable candidates to apply including if you are Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, live with a disability (visible or not) or are LGBT+. We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women’s staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.

Please note: Information provided during recruitment and pre‑employment checks must be accurate. Misrepresentation may be investigated as fraud and could lead to withdrawal from the process, professional sanctions, or criminal action.

Please note: that sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route is subject to Trust allocation and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) approval.

Use of AI in recruitment: We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support the initial review of applications against the essential criteria for this role. Where AI is used, it will support rather than replace human decision-making, and applications will remain subject to appropriate human review.

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.

Application numbers

To ensure fairness and manageable shortlisting processes, some vacancies may have an application cap. This means the vacancy will close once a set number of applications have been received even if this happens before the advertised closing date.
We recommend applying as early as possible to avoid missing out. All applications received before the cap is reached will be considered equally and assessed against the person specification.