Department: Nutrition and Dietetics
Location: South West Acute Hospital, Enniskillen
Hours: Permanent, Part time (18.75 hpw)
It is anticipated that interviews will take place the week starting 27 January 2025
Job summary
The aim of this post is to support a regional dysphagia project which will have a variety of actions to transform and improve services and quality of life for adults with dysphagia. Engage with colleagues and partners both at a local and regional level to ensure a consistent approach to dysphagia awareness, identification and management.
Act as an Advanced Practitioner Dietitian in nutrition support aspects of dysphagia management and undertake an active role in the management of dysphagia across the Trust in all care settings including Care Homes.
Act as a source of specialist expertise for professional colleagues in dysphagia and ensure the dissemination of up to date information on the associated nutritional management to all relevant staff.
Have responsibility for their own, limited clinical caseload to include the assessment, management and education of patients and their carers.
To take the clinical and managerial lead for the development and delivery of the SWAH Dietetic Service of the WHSCT thus ensuring a co-ordinated responsive and effective service.
Main responsibilities
- Work in close conjunction with the Trust Dysphagia coordinator and team, in the provision and professional leadership and management of an efficient and effective dysphagia service, within the most appropriate health care settings.
- Develop and maintain an advanced level of communication skills including behaviour modification techniques, counselling and negotiating skills.
- Ensure provision of agreed level of support for patients who have engaged with the service, to ensure they are able to effectively self-manage and record outcomes.
- Pro-actively promote the role of the Advanced Practitioner Dysphagia dietitian within the Trust to all relevant partners.
- Undertake comprehensive nutritional assessment of patients using highly specialist clinical skills to determine the nutritional diagnosis and as applicable to calculate their associated individual nutritional requirements. Use a broad range of in-depth knowledge to analyse and interpret biochemistry; anthropometric or biochemical impedance results and relevant clinical details. Undertake comprehensive nutritional assessment of a limited number of patients.
- To interpret this information and apply clinical judgment and reasoning to develop individualised treatment plans, evaluate and monitor the condition and implement appropriate evidence based changes to dietary interventions if indicated.
- Develop and implement innovative working and teaching practices such as virtual consultations, on-line training and/ or telehealth.
- Communicate complex nutrition information effectively so as to ensure collaborative working with patients and relatives/carers. This will include situations where such communication may be difficult e.g. language barriers, social difficulties, emotionally distressing circumstances.
- Be professionally and legally accountable and responsible for all aspects of own work, including record keeping and ensure confidentiality is maintained.
- Identify, source or develop any resources necessary to support this clinical area and where possible achieve regional professional agreement on resources utilised.
For more details view the full job description in the Additional Information section below
