Nutritional Assisstant

An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Emergency Specialist Care Hospital, Cramlington, on the Acute Elderly Ward 6.

We are looking for highly motivated and enthusiastic Nutrition Assistant who would welcome the opportunity of working on ward 6 where they will be providing support to patients with their nutritional needs.

If you feel you have the ability to work independently and as part of a pro-active team within a busy Emergency Care environment, have a caring and pleasant manner to deal with patients and visitors and be able to work flexibly, this could be the role for you.

Experience of working within a Hospital / Caring environment is desirable.

Knowledge and experience of computer skills is desirable, however, full training will be provided for the I.T systems that you will be required to use to carry out your role.

Ward 6 is a fast paced environment dealing with a wide range of patients with various illnesses and injuries. We are a friendly team looking for someone who enjoys a busy, every changing care environment, passionate about ensuring patients nutritional needs are met.

**As a Nutrition assistant, your main duties will be**:
To assist the qualified nursing staff in promoting and providing nutritional support for patients, including assisting patients with meals, feeding and promoting additional nutritional snacks.

To assist patients with receiving appropriate nutrition whilst on ward 6 ensuring dietary preferences are met and assisting with feeding where appropriate.

To keep an updated record of any additional nutritional support required and provided.

To monitor stock levels of nutritional supplements and snacks and order appropriately to ensure sufficient stock is readily available for patients.

To maintain high standards of nutritional support to patients.

Duties outlined are general nutrition duties for the ward as designated by the Ward Manager, Sister, Charge Nurse, or Nurse in charge.

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, in addition to our state-of-the-art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. We also care for people in their homes and provide services from facilities in local communities such as health centres. We give people greater choice and control over their care to help them to live independently at home and avoid hospital admission where appropriate. High quality patient care is at the heart of everything we do and we strive to ensure every single patient and service user has an exceptional experience with us. We have one of the most extensive patient experience programmes of any trust in England.

All staff who are coming to work for Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust or current staff who are new to the role of a Nutrition Assistant, will be expected to undertake the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Care Certificate Programme. This is a development programme mapped against the standards of the Care Certificate and to facilitate your development as a Nutrition Assistant. Full Participation in the programme is mandatory, you will not be able to commence in clinical practice until you have completed the initial three days of the programme.

The main element of the role is to assist and supervise with feeding patients and preparing drinks and snacks.

You will be expected to ensure documentation such as food diaries and fluid balance charts are completed accurately.

You will be responsible for ensuring 'Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool' (MUST) charts are completed, patients are weighed on specified days and other specified tasks to meet individual patient needs.

The post holder will be required to monitor quality standards and report deficiencies and take appropriate action, able to communicate effectively with respect to patient confidentiality.