Senior Dietitian

Senior Dietitian

The closing date is 13 February 2026

We have 2 roles available in the Dietetic team at Colchester Hospital. The 1st is a permanent role & the 2nd is fixed term until 31/10/2026. The successful candidates will become part of a large team of dietitians & dietetic assistants with an apprentice due to start in the New Year. The team works in a variety of inpatient specialties, community services, paediatrics and renal.

These roles offer the opportunity to develop & influence service delivery in a variety of different specialist areas, specifically including mental health, eating disorders & frailty with once post leading on mental health & one on frailty. The post holders will be supported to gain competency in their specialist area & will design & implement QI projects within their area of practice.

Both postholders will have the opportunity to develop expertise in other clinical areas according to interest & there will be a requirement for at least one of the postholders to provide some support to the oncology caseload.

There is an expectation to contribute to our established student-training programme & support other team members in their development including preceptorship.

You will participate in a variety of activities to build your CPD portfolio including training provided internally & access to external training relevant to your role.

*** The fixed term post will be offered as a secondment to internal candidates.***

*** There is 1 permanent vacancy & 1 fixed term vacancy until 31/10/2026 ***

To provide a highly specialised service to in-patients using specialist knowledge and expertise in dietetic management of mental health and eating disorders or frailty to manage ward patients, as well as supporting the adult acute referral pool to identify and prioritise appropriate patients.

To provide a highly specialised service to inpatients across the acute hospital site as required.

To work with the Specialist dietitians and the Professional Lead for Nutrition & Dietetics to develop the dietetic service to the defined clinical area in line with national guidance.

To cover for the oncology dietitians and clinic when required.

To provide an out- patient service as required.

To attend multidisciplinary team meetings and case conferences as required

To undertake joint assessments with the Speech and Language Therapists as required

To be involved in the discharge planning of patients on continuing nutrition support to ensure that there is no dietetic delay contributing to reduced patient flow.

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes.

We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options.

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where 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.

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.

We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients.

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.

Find out about living and working here -

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.

• Clinical Supervisory Skills Course/ Student training/ Mentorship course
• Experience in Audit
• Experience working in different clinical settings and proven clinical experience in working with mental health and eating disorder patients or in frailty

• BSc Nutrition and Dietetics or equivalent
• Membership of BDA Specialist groups relevant to the clinical area
• Member of British Dietetic Association

• Good clinical knowledge
• Evidence of commitment to life long learning
• Demonstrate own practice is up-to-date and evidence-based and be able to demonstrate an awareness of current relevant research

• Good communication and interpersonal skills
• Good organisational skills
• Good time management and ability to prioritise workload

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act…