Learning Disabilities Dietitian (Weight Management)

Job description

Job responsibilities

This exciting fixed-term contract, part-time or full-time opportunity is open to both newly qualified Band 5 and established Band 6 dietitians. This busy and rewarding post will provide a rare opportunity to develop your knowledge and skills in the specialist fields of Learning Disabilities (LD and weight management), supervised by the Senior LD Dietitian, the wider support of the Health Equalities Service and East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) Dietitians.

The postholder will deliver the ELFT LD Shape Up programme, a novel service in Bedfordshire, and be proactive in working closely with partners to ensure its success. The post-holder will be enthusiastic about working with people with LD; have a warm, compassionate manner and an appreciation of the challenges that individuals with an LD experience. This role requires excellent time management and organisational skills and the ability to work autonomously as well as part of a team.

The post holder will work closely with dietetics to support the delivery of ELFTs Shape Up, the Tier 2 weight management programme for adults with learning disabilities within Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire.

This role focuses on the management of overweight, obesity and associated comorbidities and health promotion. This project aims to address the weight management needs of people with mental illness and/or learning disabilities in our care. We recognise this is a health inequality issue and we want to bring the physical health, life expectancy and quality of life of our service users in line with those of the general population.

This will include:

Coordinating and delivering the 12-week programme offering weekly group sessions covering healthy eating and fitness as well as individual keyworking sessions to support people to lose weight and to develop and maintain healthy lifestyles. The 12-week programme will be offered to cohorts of 6-10 people (plus carers/support workers) and cohorts will run concurrently.

One-to-One programme delivery for those unable to join a group.

Delivery of an adapted training programme for family/unpaid carers.

With follow-up visits for staff working in supported living settings within the borough.

The post holder will be based within the Health Equalities Service which sits as part of SPLD and will work with service users and their support networks across a range of settings, for example, day services, community settings, homes.

The post holder will be supervised by SPLD and ELFT Dietetics with varied professional development opportunities. Dietitians meet monthly and share practice across the mental health specialism, including forensics and eating disorder amongst others.

1. Manage a small caseload of service users with LD requiring weight management as supervised by the Senior LD Dietitian.

2. Promoting the programme to stakeholders eg. Service users, provider organisations, GPs

3. Assist in triaging referrals to establish eligibility for the programme

4. Planning and organising programme delivery identifying participants for each cohort, venues, gathering and developing programme resources, session planning, identifying and supporting volunteer peer coaches

5. Support programme delivery working closely with participants and their support networks to develop and review individualised goals and timetables, delivery of programme content to participants, both in groups and 1:1 and delivery of the carer training programme.

6. Data gathering and reporting to support service evaluation measurement and collation of baseline and repeat data for participants, data entry, monitoring data and preparing quarterly reports; gathering service user feedback

7. Developing working relationships with clients, provider organisations, GPs, local community resources

8. Support in the delivery of the dietetic service within SPLD.

9. Participate in clinical and professional supervision with Senior Dietitian.

10. Supervise student dietitians and support workers in the team as required

11. Responsibly account costs for, handle and store all programme physical resources

Person Specification

Education/ Qualification/ Training

Essential

• A four-year undergraduate or a two year post graduate degree in Nutrition & Dietetics
• UK registered with Health Professional Council
• Can demonstrate a good understanding of general dietetics

Desirable

• Experience of working within the community setting
• Experience in the provision oral nutrition support
• Has an ability to use own initiative and to be self-motivated

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with people who have communication difficulties or are non-verbal
• Experience of gathering health-related data and information
• Experience of using Excel software for data recording and reporting
• Experience of working with people whose first language is not English and of working through interpreters
• Experience of co-facilitating and presenting information to groups

Desirable

• Experience of working with people who have a learning disability
• Experience of working in a community-based health or social care setting

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Understanding of what a learning disability is and the impact it may have upon someone on a day to day basis
• Knowledge and understanding of the cultural diversity and needs within Bedford and Central Bedfordshire
• Knowledge regarding healthy living, fitness and weight loss strategies
• Ability to adapt communication style to communicate effectively with those who have limited verbal communication skills
• Good interpersonal and written communication skills
• Competence in the use of IT software - Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, Teams; Zoom
• Ability to plan, organize and prioritise workload, to problem-solve and to work to deadlines
• Supervising dietetics students and support staff

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

East London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Twinwoods Clinical Resource Centre,

Milton Road, Clapham

Bedford

MK41 6AT

Employer's website

https://www.elft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)