Go back East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Specialist Dietitian - Mental Health
The closing date is 22 February 2026
We are looking for self-motivated, committed Dietitian to provide a quality dietetic service to the Ipswich and East Suffolk population. You will be a key player within the dietetic team working with both adults and children.
You will manage a caseload of nutritionally vulnerable adults within the inpatient and outpatient settings including the acute hospital, outpatients and community settings. The caseload will include mental health patients and those patients with disordered eating.
You will also benefit from working with other specialist dietitians within in the department as well as being responsible for day to day supervision of assistant practitioners.
A range of skills is required for this post, including excellent communication skills and the ability to manage a busy workload. The post-holder should be someone who enjoys working within a team and is eager to provide support to others.
The Dietetic Team consists of 26 Dietitians with 6 Dietetic Support Staff providing a service to both acute and community settings and therefore opportunity to work alongside the acute team as well as the community team. We are also supported by secretarial and administrative staff. You will have access to regular supervision and have opportunities to undertake continuing professional development through work shadowing, tutorials and courses as identified by your training needs and objectives.
Main duties of the job
* To perform specialised assessment, treatment and monitoring of patients with highly complex nutritional needs across a range of clinical specialities focusing on mental health.
* To manage a caseload of patients across a range of settings including inpatients, outpatients and the community.
* To provide a source of expertise to patients, carers and health care staff across all settings.
* To provide education and training for professional colleagues and patients groups in all aspects of nutrition across Ipswich and East Suffolk.
* To provide specialist input into the planning, development and evaluation of dietetic services holding responsibility for defined projects.
About us
One of the largest Trusts in East Anglia, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) provide hospital and community health services to people living across a wide geographical area. We deliver care from two main hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, six community hospitals and in patients' own homes. You will be joining a team of almost 12,000 amazing colleagues providing care to approximately a million people.
Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (if applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services. We offer a range of flexible working opportunities.
Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which do not work or cause time delays for our staff and patients.
To support our employees to achieve their career aspirations you may be eligible to obtain a qualification via an apprenticeship. All successful applicants will be required to undertake a skills review to facilitate this. For full details please see the attached Apprenticeship Handbook.
If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge then we are keen to hear from you.
Find out about living and working with us -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPu7HphU8A
Job responsibilities
For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Degree / Postgraduate Diploma in Dietetics or equivalent
* Registration with Health Professions Council
* Member of British Dietetic Association
* Member of the BDA Paediatric specialist group
* Leadership qualifications e.g. LEO and Supervisory Skills
* Evidence of other post registration education and training e.g. BDA paediatric MSc Modules 1-5
* Full UK Driving licence
Experience
* Portfolio of evidence of CPD
* Significant Post-Registration experience in a range of clinical areas.
* Experience of working within Paediatric Dietetics and/or mental health, (adult or paediatric)
* Experience of working with enteral nutrition
* Experience of delivering nutrition education and training to public and health care professionals
* Experience of working in eating disorders
Knowledge
* Broad up to date knowledge and practical application of dietetics
* Knowledge and understanding of BDA professional standards
* Awareness of current issues
* Understanding of and contribution to clinical governance issues e.g. health and safety, risk
* Ability to analyse complex professional, clinical and ethical issues and apply in practice
* Demonstrate leadership qualities with student dietitians, dietitians and support staff
* Clinical supervisory skills
* Completed audit and research projects and have applied in practice
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.
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
£38,682 to £46,580 a yearper annum pro rata
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