Specialist Paediatric Diabetes Dietitian

Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; Northampton; Remote; GBP 40,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

Northampton General Hospital is seeking an experienced Band 6 Dietitian to lead paediatric diabetes care. You will manage a complex caseload, provide expert dietary advice, and work within the MDT to develop care pathways for children with diabetes.

You will lead on insulin adjustment, carbohydrate counting and blood glucose management, while ensuring the child’s voice is heard and family engagement remains central.

Qualifications

• Expert knowledge of dietary management of paediatric diabetes.
• Up-to-date knowledge of insulin pumps and CGM.
• Ability to advise on safe carbohydrate adjustment.
• Specialist dietetic assessment skills for paediatric care.
• Experience developing care pathways and MDT plans.
• Strong communication with children and families.

Responsibilities

• Provide dietetic assessment, advice and counselling to children with diabetes.
• Advise on insulin adjustment, carbohydrate counting and glucose control.
• Review nutritional status and growth to meet requirements.
• Autonomously manage a highly complex caseload in paediatric diabetes.
• Collaborate with MDT, attend case conferences and safeguarding meetings.
• Educate families on glycaemic management and carbohydrate portions.

Skills

Paediatric diabetes

Insulin pump knowledge

CGM knowledge

Carbohydrate counting

Autonomous practitioner

MDT collaboration

Communication skills

Education

HCPC-registered Dietitian

Tools

Diabetes management tools

Job description

Band 6

Main area dietetics Grade Band 6 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 270-TH352-AD

Site Northampton General Hospital Town Northampton Salary £39,959 - £48,117 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 23/09/2026 08:00

Job overview

For this role you will have an expert knowledge of dietary management of paediatric diabetes, an up to date knowledge of insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring and be able to advise on safe carbohydrate adjustment. You will be the clinical lead dietitian for paediatric diabetes at Northampton General Hospital and work as an autonomous advanced practitioner but understand your role within the paediatric diabetes team and wider teams. You will have specialist dietetic assessment skills and will be able to create dietetic interventions linked into wider MDT care plans. You will be actively involved in developing care pathways. You will have advanced communication skills, the ability to use age appropriate language, be flexible in your approach to create helpful relationships to meet the needs of children and family/carers and ensure the child’s voice is heard.

You will provide a responsive service to newly diagnosed children when an inpatient, provide timely follow up at home, liaise with family members and education providers and provide outpatient services. These children can have a range of complex social and psychological issues as well as a range of comorbidities.

Main duties of the job

• Providing dietetic assessment, advice, treatment and counselling to support behavioural change in children and young people who have a diagnosis of type 1 or 2 diabetes. This will be delivered through one-to-one consultations, group sessions, MDT clinics, home visits and school training. The majority of this work will be face to face
• Providing expert advice to meet the need of individual children/families to promote healthy lifestyle choices and facilitate the attainment and maintenance of optimal medical outcomes. You will advise on insulin adjustment, carbohydrate counting and blood glucose control to reduce the risk of diabetes complications
• Reviewing from diagnosis nutritional status, anthropometric measurements, blood test results, activity levels and other indictors to allow recommendations on meeting nutritional requirements and growth to be met
• Safe caseload manage and ensuring the requirements of the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit are met
• Autonomously managing a highly complex caseload and work with children and their carers to agree patient centred care
• Working collaboratively with the wider multi- disciplinary health care team to ensure delivery of coordinated care and to provide specialist advice and attend case conferences, safeguarding meetings, network meetings as appropriate.
• Educating children/families on glycaemic management by teaching level 3 carbohydrate counting portions,

Working for our organisation

NHFT is an NHS Community and Mental Health Foundation Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in hospital settings and in the community. We provide over 200 services across the county - as well as some specialist services in bordering and nearby counties. We work together with our partners to ensure that everyone who comes through our doors receives compassionate, person-centred care, regardless of their background or circumstances.

NHFT promotes a culture of learning, to improve the care and safety of our patients and colleagues. We have achieved our ‘outstanding’ rating by encouraging opportunity, innovation, development and growth across our workforce.

At NHFT we believe that work should be rewarded in every sense which is why we are proud to an accredited living wage employer.

We aim to support financial wellbeing and create an environment where are people feel valued and able to thrive.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For further information on the advertised role, please refer to the job description located under the Supporting Documents heading. The full person specification can be accessed under the ‘About You’ Section of the document.

Person specification

knowledge and experience

• Sound clincial background and expereince of working in diabetes and preferably some paediatric experience and of NHS
• Demonstrates competency in a range of communication skills with individuals and groups and able to motivate children and families to make lifestyle change
• Demonstrates competency in a range of professional skills and ability to work as an autonomous practitioner

We are an equal opportunities employer, which aims to employ a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons from all backgrounds.

All roles are subject to the home office immigration rules and therefore eligibility must meet certain requirements for any sponsorship to be considered. Please visit the government website for more information regarding eligibility,

At NHFT we support many of our colleagues to work flexibly and we will consider requests for flexible working from day one. For this role, we are open to discussing a range of options including flexible hours, agile/home working, compressed hours and part time hours. Please have a conversation with the recruiting manager about the flexibility you need and we will promise to explore what is possible with you.

Applicants who have a disability and meet the essential criteria for the job will be considered under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme. If you require a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process please make the recruitment services team aware as soon as possible.

All posts that are engaged in a regulated activity will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and a DBS re-check on a three yearly basis whilst employed in such a role. Staff employed in these posts will therefore be asked to register with the DBS Automatic Update Service upon receipt of their DBS certificate and must update yearly , the annual fee will be reimbursed subject to Trust policy. For further information please visit: DBS Update Service: applicant guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Please note if a DBS is applicable for the position then a charge will be deducted from your first salary.

Please note that all new starters to the trustare subject to a probationary period.

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.